| dc.description.abstract | Despite many years of study and advanced biological, medical and mathematical
understanding of diseases together with commitment to child
survival, malaria and persistent infectious diseases of childhood continue
to inflict the developing nations, especially the Sub-Saharan Africa in
large proportions. In 1990 the Kenyan under-five mortality rate was reported
as 97 deaths per 1000 live births, but in 2006 it had increased to
121 deaths per 1000 live births. Kenya is thus among the countries with
least progress towards Millennium Development Goal Four (MDG 4) of
32 deaths per 1000live births in 2015. In malaria endemic places, malaria
co-infections with persistent infections like meningitis, pneumonia and rotavirus
are common. Furthermore, these diseases have a high symptom
overlap with malaria thus frequently leading to clinical misdiagnosis and
its associated problems.
The objective of the study was to develop and analyse, using the stability
concepts of differential equations, deterministic mathematical models
for the co-infection of malaria with meningitis, pneumonia and rotavirus
among Kenyan children under the age of five years. This is because children
in this age group have not developed sufficient immunity and are
thus more vulnerable to infection.
The symptom overlap between malaria and these persistent infections,
in resource scarce settings typical of the developing world, is a cause
for concern. This is because in such settings diagnosis is often clinically
done. Our analysis indicate that protection against a second infection is
desirable in minimizing the effects of co-infection. Without laboratory diagnosis,
the presence or absence of a co-infection may not be established | en_US |
