Optimal Treatment Rate During an Influenza Pandemic in the Presence of Drug-Resistance Emergence

Abstract

The problem was posed by Seyed Moghadas, from the National Research Council Institute for Biodiagnostics in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It concerns the optimization of the rate of treatment with antivirals during a pandemic of influenza, to achieve the following objectives:
1. Minimize the total number of deaths due to influenza.
2. Minimize the total number of infections with influenza.
3. Reduce the spread of resistance to antivirals.
It is understood that not all the objectives above might be satisfied at the same time, and the purpose of the work is to consider the outcome in the different scenarios. The aim of the present project is to see if optimal control theory can contribute to a better formulation of the treatment intensity, in order to bring the epidemic under control while avoiding wide-spread resistance in the population.