Advances in Research

This research presents a distributed continuous-time epidemic model, called a SUSCEPTIBLE INFECTIOUS SUSCEPTIBLE- SIS model to denote a waterborne disease spreading over a network of different domestic waters sources such as tap water, well water and spring water in the understanding of infectious pathogens in the Municipality of Bamenda.  It involves multiple groups of individuals sharing a water source which comprises the population in the communities or quarter of Upstation mile 1, Nkwen, Mankon and Nsongwa in and around this urban area. A sufficient condition is obtained for the healthy state, at which all individuals are not infected and the water is not contaminated, to be globally asymptotically stable. The effects of the shared water source on the disease spreading were analyzed through the comparison of the basic reproduction number with the networked SIS model without water and demonstrated via simulations. It was realized that human activities and generally anthropogenic influences contaminate these water sources making individuals of this localities to become susceptible to waterborne infections. The characterization and identification of intestinal parasites reveal that, those who consume these contaminated water were infected and these infected individuals intend re-contaminate the environment including water bodies and or food thereby by making the population and uninfected individuals susceptible to waterborne diseases in the community.