Scenario3 - Infectious Disease
Infectious diseases, in spite of antibiotic and other treatments, remain one of the biggest medical problems to date. The overall problem of understanding host-parasite dynamics is extremely important, as it is intrinsic to the study of infection at all organismal scales. Many examples of such host-parasite systems exist, with debilitating and/or fatal consequences for humans all over the planet; malaria, schistosomiasis, and Chagas’ Disease, for example. Epidemiologically, it is estimated that around 2 billion people are estimated to harbor STH and schistosomiasis worms.

Morbidity estimates are that 300 million individuals are severely ill with worms, of which 50% are school-age children. Mortality estimates, for Africa alone, find that the death toll due to schistosomiasis may be as high as 200,000 per year. Despite recent advances in the control of Chagas’ disease, millions of Latin Americans and numerous US citizens remain at risk for infection with the T. cruzi parasite, the causal agent in Chagas’ disease.

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