Assessment of brucellosis control strategies on metapopulation network: Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as cases

Brucellosis is a zoonotic infectious disease with endemic characteristics that severely affect the healthy development of the livestock industry and public health security. In recent years, various regions in China have firmly implemented immunization as a key measure for source control, effectively blocking the transmission pathways of Brucella to humans. Based on this, we established a human–sheep-coupled brucellosis control model on metapopulation network that incorporates animal immunization. Theoretically, we calculated the basic reproduction number of the model and proved the existence and global asymptotic stability of disease-free equilibrium. In addition, we proposed control strategies such as rationalizing sheep farm construction and disinfection, and implemented them through methods such as uniform control, targeted control and acquaintance control. In terms of applications, we used the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as an example to study the effectiveness of control measures under different network structures (BA network, ER network, small-world network and homogeneous mixing network). The results showed that maintaining the sheep transportation rate near its critical value while increasing the immunization rate can reduce brucellosis transmission. However, vaccination and transportation control alone are insufficient to effectively block the disease, and a combination of diverse interventions is essential. Uniform control methods are more effective in BA and ER networks, whereas targeted control is more effective in small-world and homogeneous mixing networks. Therefore, actual prevention and control should flexibly select and combine control strategies based on regional network characteristics and disease incidence to achieve the best results.