The mystery of sleeping sickness – why does it keep waking up?

Instantanés de recherche mathématique à Oberwolfach

The mystery of sleeping sickness – why does it keep waking up?

Sleeping sickness is a neglected tropical disease that affects rural populations in Africa. Deadly when untreated, it is being targeted for elimination through case finding and treatment. Yet, fundamental questions about its transmission cycle remain unanswered. One of them is whether transmission is limited to humans, or whether other species play a role in maintaining circulation of the disease. In this snapshot, we introduce a mathematical model for the spread of Trypanosoma brucei, the parasite responsible for causing sleeping sickness, and present some results based on data collected in Cameroon. Understanding how important animals are in harbouring Trypanosoma brucei that can infect humans is important for assessing whether the disease could be reintroduced in human populations even after all infected people have been successfully treated.

 

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Sujet mathématique

Calcul numérique et calcul scientifique

Liens avec d'autres domaines

Sciences de la vie

Auteur(s)

Sebastian Funk

Licence

DOI

10.14760/SNAP-2015-015-EN

Télécharger PDF

PDF

snapshots: overview

Sujet mathématique

Algèbre et théorie des nombres
Analyse
Pédagogie et éducation
Mathématiques discrètes et fondements des mathématiques
Géométrie et Topologie
Calcul numérique et calcul scientifique
Théorie des probabilités et statistique

Liens avec d'autres domaines

Chimie et sciences de la terre
Informatique
Ingénierie et technologie
Finances
Humanités et sciences sociales
Sciences de la vie
Physique
Pensées mathématiques

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