| Schistosomiasis, a disease caused by parasitic flukes, infects 207 million people worldwide, especially in South America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The schistosome parasite undergoes a complex life cycle that involves two hosts: a definitive human/animal host and an intermediate snail host. Based on transmission estimates from field studies, there are strong seasonal variations in snail populations, as well as age-dependent infection patterns and heterogeneities among different human and snail clusters that strongly affect transmission risk. Optimal control strategies for timing and resource allocation need to be defined using non-linear models that can account for these important environmental and behavioral patterns. Here we outline a mathematical model of heterogeneous schistosome transmission for distributed human/snail population clusters, age-dependent water contact behavior, and seasonal changes in environment and use this model to define optimal strategies for parasite control. |
