On the dynamics of HIV and malaria infection : insights from mathematical models

• Main Author: Konrad, Bernhard Paul
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2015
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/54829

We develop and apply mathematical models to obtain insights into the dynamics of HIV and malaria infection. We consider three case studies. 1. The duration of the time between exposure and detectability of HIV infection is difficult to estimate because precise dates of exposure are rarely known. Therefore, the reliability of clinical HIV testing during the first few weeks of infections is unknown, creating anxiety among HIV-exposed individuals and their physicians. We address this knowledge gap by fitting stochastic models of early HIV infection to detailed viral load time-courses, taken shortly after exposure, from 78 plasma donors. Since every plasma donor in our data eventually becomes infected, we condition our model to reflect this bias before fitting to the data. Our model prediction for the mean eclipse period is 8-10 days. We further quantify the reliability of a negative test t days after potential exposure to inform physicians about the value of initial and follow-up testing. 2. The recently launched Get Checked Online (GCO) program aims at increasing the HIV testing rate in the Vancouver men who have sex with men population by facilitating test taking and result delivery. We develop mathematical models and extract parameter values from surveys and interviews to quantify GCO's population-level impact. Our models predict that the epidemic is growing overall, that its severeness is increased by the presence of a high-risk group and that, even at modest effectiveness, GCO might avert 34-66 new infections in the next five years. 3. Metarhizium anisopliae is a naturally occurring fungal pathogen of mosquitoes that has been engineered to act against malaria by effectively blocking onward transmission from the mosquito vector. We develop and analyse two mathematical models to examine the efficacy of this fungal pathogen. We find that, in many plausible scenarios, the best effects are achieved with a reduced or minimal pathogen virulence, even if the likelihood of resistance to the fungus is negligible. The results depend on the interplay between two main effects: the ability of the fungus to reduce the mosquito population, and the ability of fungus-infected mosquitoes to compete for resources with non-fungus-infected mosquitoes. === Science, Faculty of === Mathematics, Department of === Graduate