Malaria Replication Rates within a Human

by Thy Nguyen

Submitted : Spring 2009

Malaria is an endemic to many countries around the world. Although it is not prevalent in the United States, it is a serious disease affecting more than 350-500 million. Using a mathematical approach, scientists can determine the replication rate of malaria within a human host. Malaria is fairly easy to diagnose with a parasitic count test. The severity of malaria is determined by the proportion of merozoite cells to the red blood cells in 1mm3 of blood. When the proportion becomes 0.05, it is considered to be a severe case. A load of 30000 parasitic cells would take approximately 54 days to be considered severe. A load of 100000 parasitic cells would take 162 days to be considered severe. In this experiment, the immune system only slows down the process of the malaria infection. The body can fight off the infection but without proper treatment, malaria can be fatal.

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