An agent-based computational model for tuberculosis spreading on age-structured populations

•TB with the population aging reproduces the coexistence of states.•Public health policies against TB can lead to the emergence of resistant pathogens.•Different treatment efficacies explain the patterns of age incidence of TB.

In this work we present an agent-based computational model to study the spreading of the tuberculosis (TB) disease on age-structured populations. The model proposed is a merge of two previous models: an agent-based computational model for the spreading of tuberculosis and a bit-string model for biological aging. The combination of TB with the population aging, reproduces the coexistence of health states, as seen in real populations. In addition, the universal exponential behavior of mortalities curves is still preserved. Finally, the population distribution as function of age shows the prevalence of TB mostly in elders, for high efficacy treatments.