-->PONE-D-25-62939-->-->Modeling Treatment and Temperature Effects on Dengue Transmission at the Division Level in Bangladesh-->-->PLOS One

Dear Dr. Kuddus,

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Md. Kamrujjaman, Ph.D

Academic Editor

PLOS One

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Reviewer's Responses to Questions

-->Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented. -->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? -->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)-->

Reviewer #1: The authors did a good job, but I have few comments to make:

1. Add proper reference to the following lines in the Introduction Section:

The virus persists in the human bloodstream for two to seven days………

Globally, dengue imposes a heavy public health burden, with an estimated 400 million infections annually, ……………….

Between 1990 and 2023, reported cases increased by 88%, though……..

In 2024, cases declined to 101,214 with 575 deaths, while…………..

Importantly, temperature shows the strongest correlation with dengue cases among the climate variables ……..

2. In page 6, mention the expression of N_h in the disease free equilibrium (DFE) like N_v.

3. Modify the structure of column 6 and column 7 in Table 2. Put the values in column 6 and units in column 7, do not write together.

4. In column 4 of Table 2, the values of Rc should be based on column 2, not column 3.

5. In section 2.9, write a clear and rigorous explanation of the sensitivity index. For example, the sensitivity index of Rc with respect to the parameter beta_h is 1, what does it mean ?

6. What initial conditions were used for each compartment ?

7. How the parameter values were chosen for different scenarios (low, low-moderate, moderate, high-moderate, very high) in page 17 ? Were these values just assumed or is there any significance ?

8. In the very high infection scenario, b =1.25. Can b be greater than 1 ? If yes, why ?

9. The paper mentions that parameter values were estimated using MATLAB’s fmincon. What are the confidence intervals for these estimates, and how were these parameters initialized during the optimization process?

10. In page 10, the paper mentions Routh–Hurwitz criterion, but neither stated it nor gave any references.

Reviewer #2: Minor Comments:

1. The manuscript contains several spelling inconsistencies (e.g. suppohomorting) that should be carefully reviewed and corrected throughout.

2. The reference numbering does not appear to follow a consistent order throughout the manuscript. Please review and revise the placement of references to ensure proper sequencing.

3. A careful check of the reference list is recommended, as certain references seem to appear repeatedly.

4. The parameter $\tau_h$ is inconsistently described as a specified time interval, a disease progression rate, and a treatment rate in different sections. Clarification and revision are requested to ensure consistency.

5. Please check the formatting of columns 6 and 7 of table 2, as they appear to be merged.

6. Please carefully check the x-tick labels in Fig. 2, Panel B, as they may require correction.

7.Please carefully revise the theorem (Theorem 3) statement to ensure consistency between the stability condition and the biological interpretation.

Major Comments:

1.Given that Fig. 8 depicts scenarios for human infections $(I_h)$. Clarification is requested on how conclusions regarding infection dynamics in both human and mosquito populations were drawn, and what analyses were conducted to assess the role of mosquito control under epidemic conditions.

2. Could you please clarify how the analysis presented in Fig. 9 supports conclusions regarding infection dynamics in the mosquito population? While treatment may indirectly reduce mosquito infections by lowering human infectiousness, it would be helpful to explain how such conclusions were drawn in the absence of explicit vector control interventions or mosquito-targeted measures in the model.

3. The temperature-dependent biting rate function b(T) is directly adopted from reference [43]. Could you please clarify the rationale for applying this formulation in the Bangladesh context? In particular, clarification is requested regarding the suitability of the adopted formulation for Bangladesh-specific conditions and whether any validation or sensitivity analyses were performed.

4.Figure 5, Panel A is described as using the baseline parameter values listed in Table 2; however, Table 2 reports a basic reproduction number $R_c=3.0456$ for these parameter values, whereas Figure 5 indicates $R_c<1$. Could you please clarify this apparent discrepancy and explain how the condition $R_c<1$ was obtained in Figure 5?

5.The figure description (Fig. 6) appears to be inconsistent with the content shown in the figure. Clarification or revision would be appreciated to ensure consistency between the figure and its description.

6.While sensitivity analyses of epidemiological parameters in human and vector classes are presented, the inclusion of an LHS–PRCC approach could further account for parameter uncertainty.

7. Please consider placing figures within their corresponding sections in the main manuscript and integrating the correlation figures from the supporting file where appropriate.

8.The manuscript would benefit from engagement with additional literature on dengue transmission, treatment-based intervention modeling, and uncertainty quantification, as well as broader infectious disease modelling studies on host–vector dynamics, threshold analysis, and control strategies.

a)Cost-effectiveness of dengue control strategies in Bangladesh: An optimal control and ACER-ICER analysis. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actatropica.2025.107587

b)Optimal control analysis of COVID-19 transmission model with physical distance and treatment. http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/abr.2022.12.001.

c)Analysis of a Data‐Driven Vector‐Borne Dengue Transmission Model for a Tropical Environment in Bangladesh. https://doi.org/10.1155/2024/2959770

d)Stochastic analysis of Mpox epidemiology with vaccination strategies and environmental persistence. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-28135-x

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: Recommendation.pdf

-->PONE-D-25-62939R1-->-->Modeling Treatment and Temperature Effects on Dengue Transmission at the Division Level in Bangladesh-->-->PLOS One

Dear Dr. Kuddus,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Apr 05 2026 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:-->

• A letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Md. Kamrujjaman, Ph.D

Academic Editor

PLOS One

Journal Requirements:

If the reviewer comments include a recommendation to cite specific previously published works, please review and evaluate these publications to determine whether they are relevant and should be cited. There is no requirement to cite these works unless the editor has indicated otherwise.

[Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.]

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

-->Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.-->

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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-->2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented. -->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

**********

-->3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? -->

Reviewer #1: N/A

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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-->4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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-->5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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-->6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)-->

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: Recommendations.pdf

Modeling Treatment and Temperature Effects on Dengue Transmission at the Division Level in Bangladesh

PONE-D-25-62939R2

Dear Dr. Kuddus,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Md. Kamrujjaman, Ph.D

Academic Editor

PLOS One

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

-->Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.-->

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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-->2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented. -->

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

**********

-->3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? -->

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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-->4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.-->

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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-->5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.-->

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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-->6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)-->

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.-->

Reviewer #2: No

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