Malaria is a significant public health concern, especially as the increasing presence of drug resistance creates challenges for control efforts. Over the last several decades, mathematical modeling has been used to gain insight into the within-host dynamics of malaria parasites. Within the human host, the parasite undergoes several life stages, including an asexual replication stage associated with the onset of symptoms, and a sexual stage of parasites (the gametocytes) which can be transmitted to mosquitoes. Of particular importance is the incorporation of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics to better understand how different actions of treatment on malaria parasites impact gametocyte levels and the potential to select for drug-resistant parasites. In this talk we discuss a within-host model that incorporates anti-malarial treatment and explore the impact of different dosing regimes and drug actions on parasite load and probability of forward transmission.
A within-host model for the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of malaria
Jordan Pellett, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Authors: Jordan Pellett and Dr. Olivia Prosper
2023 AWM Research Symposium
Women in Mathematical Biology: Computation and Modeling [Organized by Katharine Gurski and Yeona Kang]