A simple deterministic model for host-parasite relationship in Wuchereria bancrofti infection and its relevance to parasite regulation in human host
Subramanian, S.; Vanamail, P.; Ramaiah, K.D.; Pani, S.P.; Das, P.K.; Rajagopalan, P.K.
Indian Journal of Medical Research 89: 411-417
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0019-5340 PMID: 2695460 Document Number: 326461
A deterministic immigration-death model, which reflects the population dynamics of W. bancrofti in human host has been applied to study the relationship between vector and human infections. Application of the model showed that the rate of acquisition and loss of human infection were approximately equal (L = 0.130 and M = 0.129). The relationship of infective resting density (IRD) in vector population with maximum intensity (Imax) of infections and microfilaria prevalence (MFP) in human population were examined by using the least squares polynomial regressions. The fifth order polynomial regressions were found to be adequate to describe the observed pattern (Imax vs IRD: R2 = 0.8464, P = 0.0015; MFP vs IRD: R2 = 0.7246, P = 0.019). The observed relationships indicated that at an infective resting density of 0.26 per man hour or above, the density-dependent factors start regulating the human infections, which showed a declining trend, following this level.