A couple of professors at the University of Arizona have managed to walk away with a $150,000 grand prize after beating 38 other institutions in a U.S. Department of Defense competition, KTAR News reported.
The two professors, one an assistant professor of epidemiology and the other a professor of mathematics, won the competition with math after the pair created a model capable of analyzing the behavior of pathogens, mosquitoes and humans using climate changes.
The model created by the competition’s winners proved to be the most accurate when it came to the Western Hemisphere countries and territories between September of 2014 and March of 2015.
Chikungunya, which was discovered in the Americas for the first time back in 2013, is a mosquito-borne disease with symptoms including joint swelling, joint pain, muscle pain, fever, headaches and rash.
The competition’s winners, the two UA professors, have indicated that they intend to use the $150,000 prize to continue their work.
In other news, the Tazewell County Health Department in Illinois has confirmed that a batch of mosquitoes have been tested positive for the West Nile Virus and state officials in Ohio indicated the same in regards to mosquitoes found in Lucas County, who also tested positive for the deadly virus.
In other news, a study published earlier this year has found that the chikungunya virus shows symptoms similar to rheumatoid arthritis, which might lead to misdiagnosis.
Lindsay Lohan was reportedly hospitalized back in January of this year after she contracted the rare chikungunya virus during a trip to Bora Bora.
