Competitive Exclusion in Gonorrhea Models and Other Sexually Transmitted Diseases

A heterosexually active population is exposed to two competing strains or two distinct sexually-transmitted pathogens. It is assumed that a host cannot be invaded simultaneously by both disease agents and that when symptoms appear, a function of the pathogen or strain virulence, individuals recover. We conclude that in a behaviorally and genetically homogeneous population coexistence is not possible except under very special circumstances. The mathematical qualitative analysis of our model is complete, that is, we provide the global stability analysis of the stationary states. We conclude this manuscript with two extensions. The first allows for the possibility that a host may face multiple competing strains while the second looks at the effects on co-existence of the host’s age-of-infection when two strains compete for the same host.