To test potential interaction between Hepatitis E and malaria empirically, we now assume that in the absence of malaria, Hepatitis E has R 0~1 and does not spread. Thus malaria is required for the spread of Hepatitis and jw1. Since R C~2 :3 from the data and M Ã~0 :083, then substituting these values in to equation 14 gives j~16:9. This implies that, under the assumption of co-infection as the factor which promotes Hepatitis E, malaria infected individuals were infected with Hepatitis E up to 16.9 times more than those not infected with malaria. As we gain more information about the role of co-infection, this relationship can be used to improve estimation of br.