Investigating the epidemiological factors responsible for malaria transmission dynamics

Abstract

Despite concerted efforts by the World Health Organization (WHO) to control malaria, it is still being diagnosed in patients visiting hospitals in Tropical Countries of the World. Hence, this study investigated the risk factors responsible for malaria transmission dynamics through a hospital case study. Data of patients that presented with malaria from June 2019 to December 2020 were acquired from Covenant University Medical Centre in Ota, South West Nigeria. Descriptive statistical analyses were carried out so as to examine the factors associated with malaria incidence rate such as age, gender and travel history using the R programming platform. 14% of the total outpatient visits from June 2019 to December 2020 presented with malaria. Furthermore, the mean of the ages of those that presented with malaria, was 23.10 whereas the median of their ages was 22.0. Out of the total malaria cases, 57.7% were males whereas 42.3% were females. Results also showed that there was a significant positive correlation between malaria and travel. In conclusion, it is recommended that malaria control policy formulators should focus on the most vulnerable group of individuals as identified in this study. Further, more efforts should be geared towards curbing malaria importation as a result of human travel, by the different health authorities across the globe.

Mathematical modeling of malaria transmission dynamics in humans with mobility and control states

“…Covenant University (Latitude 6.671823° N, Longitude 3.158125° E) is a Tertiary Institution located in Ota, which is a town in Ogun State very close to Lagos State, Nigeria (Adegbite et al ., 2022). Specifically, the study site has a government-accredited Medical Centre that provides inpatient nd outpatient care services to the human population within the academic environment and in extension to people living in other parts of Ogun State ( Adegbite et al., 2022 ). Ogun State is a State in the Southwestern part of Nigeria ( Adegbite et al., 2022 ).…”

“…Specifically, the study site has a government-accredited Medical Centre that provides inpatient nd outpatient care services to the human population within the academic environment and in extension to people living in other parts of Ogun State ( Adegbite et al., 2022 ). Ogun State is a State in the Southwestern part of Nigeria ( Adegbite et al., 2022 ). Plasmodium falciparum parasite accounts for >95% of malaria–diagnosed cases in Southwestern Nigeria.…”

“…Specifically, most of these current clinical research studies investigated the factors responsible for malaria transmission using human subject reference data ( Achieng et al ., 2020 ; Anokye et al ., 2018 ; Esayas et al ., 2020 ). Several statistical and mathematical models have been useful in investigating these factors ( Adeboye et al ., 2020 ; Adegbite et al., 2022 ; Alegana et al ., 2020 ; Li & Liu, 2020 ).…”

“…In line with this, malaria importation could have an impact on malaria transmission dynamics. Hence, this study developed mathematical and computational models to study the effect of malaria importation as well as WHO-approved and traditional malaria control usage levels on malaria transmission dynamics using Covenant University environment which is a low malaria-endemic region in Nigeria, as case study ( Adegbite et al ., 2022 ). Furthermore, this study accounted for the hysteresis effect of the model based on the incubation period of Plasmodium infection in the human host.…”

Promoting Sustainable Development in Combating Schistosomiasis through Community-Centric Approaches: The Role of Social Empowerment and Education in Ondo State

“…Animals, mammals, and humans are the definitive hosts for the parasite while freshwater snails are the intermediate host [2]. Schistosomiasis has been reported to be the most prevalent parasitic disease after malaria [3], capable of infecting over 249 million of the world's population [4]. The disease is caused by a blood fluke from the genus Schistosoma and can be either chronic or acute in several patients depending on the worm burden [5].…”