Taylor, Ammon; Otterson, Jisun; Chellamuthu, Vinodh (Dixie State University)
Faculty Advisor: Chellamuthu, Vinodh (Dixie State University, Mathematics)
Dengue fever is one of the most common mosquito borne infections, and it is commonly spread in tropical climates. It can only be spread from the bite of a female Aedes aegypti mosquito. Wolbachia is a natural bacteria found in around 60% of all mosquito species, but it is not found naturally in the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the mosquito primarily responsible for the spread of Dengue virus. By infecting the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes with Wolbachia, it will slow the growth of any viruses the mosquito may carry, including Dengue. One of the objectives of the proposed project is to develop a temperature-dependent mathematical model in order to predict the spread of the Dengue virus between mosquitoes and humans. Moreover, to make our simulation show the optimal range of temperature as well as what times during the year Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes should be released in order to be as cost-effective as possible. Furthermore, we will design a robust GUI that could be used by mosquito abatement centers in order to determine optimal strategies in order to most efficiently mitigate the disease outbreaks.