Dynamics of an emerging infectious disease with a behavior change and constrained treatment resources

Xinru Li; Ning Wang; Shengqiang Liu; Xinru Li; Ning Wang; Shengqiang Liu

doi:10.3934/era.2026125

Electronic Research Archive

2026, Volume 34, Issue 5: 2732-2759. doi: 10.3934/era.2026125

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Dynamics of an emerging infectious disease with a behavior change and constrained treatment resources

School of Mathematical Sciences, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China

Received: 12 February 2026 Revised: 21 March 2026 Accepted: 25 March 2026 Published: 30 March 2026

At the early stage of an emerging infectious disease outbreak, the interplay between individual protective behavior and therapeutic resources profoundly influences the effectiveness of epidemic control. By extending the classic behavior–disease coupling framework, this paper developed a dynamic model that concurrently incorporates heterogeneous behavioral adoption dynamics and saturation effects in treatment resources. Two behavioral regulation parameters were introduced to quantify their synergistic influence on transmission dynamics. Theoretical analysis yielded the basic reproduction number for both homogeneous and mixed systems, thereby establishing the threshold dynamics of the model. Numerical simulations demonstrated that increasing the intensity of behavioral adoption significantly reduces both the infection scale and transmission risk, and can even lower $ \mathcal{R}_0 $ below the epidemic. However, if the driving force for adoption is insufficient, transmission risk in the mixed system may exceed that in a system with no behavioral adoption, suggesting that ineffective interventions could exacerbate disease spread. Under resource constraints, our results indicate that large-scale, high-compliance behavioral interventions are essential for epidemic control. They further provides a mathematical basis for designing integrated strategies that balance "behavioral maintenance" and "resource allocation".
- emerging infectious diseases,
- behavioral-disease coupling model,
- resource constraints,
- basic reproduction number
Citation: Xinru Li, Ning Wang, Shengqiang Liu. Dynamics of an emerging infectious disease with a behavior change and constrained treatment resources[J]. Electronic Research Archive, 2026, 34(5): 2732-2759. doi: 10.3934/era.2026125

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Abstract

At the early stage of an emerging infectious disease outbreak, the interplay between individual protective behavior and therapeutic resources profoundly influences the effectiveness of epidemic control. By extending the classic behavior–disease coupling framework, this paper developed a dynamic model that concurrently incorporates heterogeneous behavioral adoption dynamics and saturation effects in treatment resources. Two behavioral regulation parameters were introduced to quantify their synergistic influence on transmission dynamics. Theoretical analysis yielded the basic reproduction number for both homogeneous and mixed systems, thereby establishing the threshold dynamics of the model. Numerical simulations demonstrated that increasing the intensity of behavioral adoption significantly reduces both the infection scale and transmission risk, and can even lower $ \mathcal{R}_0 $ below the epidemic. However, if the driving force for adoption is insufficient, transmission risk in the mixed system may exceed that in a system with no behavioral adoption, suggesting that ineffective interventions could exacerbate disease spread. Under resource constraints, our results indicate that large-scale, high-compliance behavioral interventions are essential for epidemic control. They further provides a mathematical basis for designing integrated strategies that balance "behavioral maintenance" and "resource allocation".

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