A reaction-diffusion equation to model the population of Candida Auris in an Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

[EN] In order to model a population of microorganisms in a given environment through time and space, ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and partial differential equations (PDEs) are, respectively, well studied and very valuable tools. In practice, exact solutions are few and so numerical solutions are often used to describe the dynamic behaviour of the population through time. In order to assert that the numerical solutions are modelling real world phenomena, it is important to calibrate these models with biological and physical data. In this work, we have applied the Fisher Kolmogorov- Petrovsky¿Piskunov (FKPP) equation to model the change in density trough time of Candida Auris (CA) inside an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The multi-drug resistant yeast CA poses a global threat to the healthcare environment. This model allows us to evaluate the efficacy of well timed cleaning measures on CA population control in the ICU.