Last Updated: 08/08/2024
The contribution of sub-patent asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum infections to self-sustaining parasite populations in an area of reduced malaria endemicity.
Objectives
The aim of this project is to prove that malaria elimination in areas where transmission has been reduced to very low levels, will require additional strategies to combat residual transmission by treating the asymptomatic malaria infection reservoirs.
The rationale for this study is that a clear understanding of the prevalence of infectious reservoirs of P. falciparum is of key importance for planning effective strategies for gametocytes transmission blocking in such areas.
Humans can harbour malaria parasites at transmissible level while remaining asymptomatic, such individuals are unlikely to seek chemotherapy, thus maintain malaria transmission to affect the malaria vulnerable group.
Several studies have looked at the prevalence of parasitemic asymptomatic individuals in endemic and low transmission settings. Similar studies have not been conducted in well-characterized urban settings of low transmission, with high levels of access to diagnosis and treatment in Africa and indeed very little is known about how the prevalence and absolute number of cases of asymptomatic human infections with P. falciparum distributed among different age groups in urban Dar es Salaam, an area where parasites transmission has been reduced to very low levels in Tanzania. This study will address these knowledge gaps.
Apr 2011 — Sep 2013
$62,720
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