A mathematical model of Plasmodium falciparum transmission incorporating drug resistance: Simulations of the Solomon Islands situation

The Solomon Islands are known as a high endemic region of malaria. The resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to chloroquine has been confirmed since 1980 in the Solomon Islands, and the spread of chloroquine resistance is a big hurdle to malaria control. We have constructured the model for P. falciparum making allowance of chloroquine resistance. We distinguish the infection of resistance strains from that of sensitive strains in both the human and the vector populations. Since the overall parasite rate and the parasite rate of gametocytes for P.　falciparum are strongly dependent on age, the human population is divided into 7 age groups in the model. The epidemiological parameters are determined by malariological survey in northeastern Guadalcanal (Ishii et al.) and the sporozoite rate in vector population is assumed as 0.1% based on the entomological study (Harada et al.) Our study aims at estimating the effect of mass drug administration under the presence of drug-resistance and also analyzing the escalation of drug-resistance through the transmission model for P. falciparum which can deal with chloroquine resistance

Analysis of the effectiveness of control strategies against bioterrorist smallpox attacks by using Individual Based Model

We carried out simulations of various scenarios for bioterrorist attacks using smallpox occurring in a virtual area set up on the basis of the census of Okayama-city, Japan, which predict the effect of control strategies against bioterrorism and the loss scale. On simulating a smallpox epidemic, we followed the method of the Individual Based Model stochastically, which can treat the population in the virtual area as individuals. Individuals have personal information, behavior patterns, and interactions among social groups. We took into consideration the influence of residual immunity due to past vaccination. We considered Traced Vaccination (TV) and Mass Vaccination (MV) strategies against bioterrorism. We investigated the effect of TV and MV strategies on the suppression of smallpox epidemics. Consequently, the TV strategy was found to have higher effectiveness than the MV strategy

The evaluation of control measures against Schistosoma mekongi in Cambodia by a mathematical model

We constructed a mathematical model for the transmission of Schistosoma mekongi in Cambodia. The simulation of the model will be instrumental in planning schistosomiasis control measures. The model includes two definitive hosts, humans and dogs, as animal reservoirs. Dogs are recognized to play an important role in schistosomiasis transmission in Cambodia. For the purpose of dealing with age-specific prevalence and intensity of infection, the human population was classified into eight age categories in the model. To describe the seasonal fluctuation of the intermediate host population of S. mekongi, the "Post-Spate Survival" hypothesis was adopted for the population dynamics of Neotricula aperta present in the Mekong River. We carried out simulations to evaluate the effect of universal treatment (UT) and targeted mass treatment (TT) with praziquantel on the reduction in prevalence of S. mekongi. The simulations indicated that biyearly UT for 8 years or yearly TT for 5 years after three courses of yearly UT could reduce the prevalence to below 5% when a UT or TT coverage of 85% of inhabitants was achieved. The simulation suggested that the suppression of S. mekongi in Cambodia would be possible by UT or TT with a high coverage rate.</p