The Buzz on Malaria

Presenter Information

Tyler Metzger, Minnesota State University - Mankato

Location

CSU 204

Start Date

21-4-2014 2:10 PM

End Date

21-4-2014 3:10 PM

Student's Major

Mathematics and Statistics

Student's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Mentor's Name

Riujun Zhao

Mentor's Email Address

ruijun.zhao@mnsu.edu

Mentor's Department

Mathematics and Statistics

Mentor's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Description

Malaria has been a big problem, especially in Africa, for many years. So many children die each year due to the malaria infection, but this can be prevented. The RTS,S malaria vaccine is current in phase three of its trials. With this vaccine, it could be possible to minimize the deaths of children each year. The goal of this experiment was to collect the data being done in the phase three trial in Africa to create a model of the effectiveness of the vaccine. The trial has been going on for the last 22 months and so far, there has been a trend in the effectiveness of the vaccine. This data was able to be modeled using a system of equations derived from the life cycle of the malaria transmission cycle. With this data, we will be able to figure out how often the vaccine will have to be distributed in order for there to be minimal infections.