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Worldwide, the recent SARS-CoV-2 virus disease outbreak has infected more than 691,000,000 people and killed more than 6,900,000. Surprisingly, Sub-Saharan Africa has suffered the least from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Factors that are inherent to developing countries and that contrast with their counterparts in developed countries have been associated with these disease burden differences. In this paper, we developed data-driven COVID-19 mathematical models of two 'extreme': Cameroon, a developing country, and New York State (NYS) located in a developed country. We then identified critical parameters that could be used to explain the lower-than-expected COVID-19 disease burden in Cameroon versus NYS and to help mitigate future major disease outbreaks. Through the introduction of a 'disease burden' function, we found that COVID-19 could have been much more severe in Cameroon than in NYS if the vaccination rate had remained very low in Cameroon and the pandemic had not ended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent paper, Che et al. [5] used a continuous-time Ordinary Differential Equation (ODE) model with risk structure to study cholera infections in Cameroon. However, the population and the reported cholera cases in Cameroon are censored at discrete-time annual intervals. In this paper, unlike in [5], we introduce a discrete-time risk-structured cholera model with no spatial structure. We use our discrete-time demographic equation to 'fit' the annual population of Cameroon. Furthermore, we use our fitted discrete-time model to capture the annually reported cholera cases from 1987 to 2004 and to study the impact of vaccination, treatment and improved sanitation on the number of cholera infections from 2004 to 2019. Our discrete-time cholera model confirms the results of the ODE model in [5]. However, our discrete-time model predicts a decrease in the number of cholera cases in a shorter period of cholera intervention (2004–2019) as compared to the ODE model's period of intervention (2004–2022). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-medication is an important initial response to illness in Africa. This mode of medication is often done with the help of African traditional medicines. Because of the misconception that African traditional medicines can cure/prevent all diseases, some Africans may opt for COVID-19 prevention and management by self-medicating. Thus to efficiently predict the dynamics of COVID-19 in Africa, the role of the self-medicated population needs to be taken into account. In this paper, we formulate and analyse a mathematical model for the dynamics of COVID-19 in Cameroon. The model is represented by a system of compartmental age-structured ODEs that takes into account the self-medicated population and subdivides the human population into two age classes relative to their current immune system strength. We use our model to propose policy measures that could be implemented in the course of an epidemic in order to better handle cases of self-medication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long and binding treatment of tuberculosis (TB) at least 6–8 months for the new cases, the partial immunity given by BCG vaccine, the loss of immunity after a few years doing that strategy of TB control via vaccination and treatment of infectious are not sufficient to eradicate TB. TB is an infectious disease caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Adults are principally attacked. In this work, we assess the impact of vaccination in the spread of TB via a deterministic epidemic model (SVELI) (Susceptible, Vaccinated, Early latent, Late latent, Infectious). Using the Lyapunov–Lasalle method, we analyse the stability of epidemic system (SVELI) around the equilibriums (disease-free and endemic). The global asymptotic stability of the unique endemic equilibrium whenever R 0 > 1 is proved, where R 0 is the reproduction number. We prove also that when R 0 is less than 1, TB can be eradicated. Numerical simulations, using some TB data found in the literature in relation with Cameroon, are conducted to approve analytic results, and to show that vaccination coverage is not sufficient to control TB, effective contact rate has a high impact in the spread of TB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]