Molecular Epidemiology of Vivax Malaria in Ethiopia

Vivax malaria is the most geographically widespread human malaria, causing tremendous suffering and major negative effects on economic productivity. African blacks or people with African ancestry are thought to be protected from Plasmodium vivax infection because their lack of Duffy antigen expression on the surface of the erythrocytes renders P. vivax unable to invade the erythrocytes.

However, recent studies challenge this conventional wisdom, raising the possibility that some lineages of P. vivax may have evolved to use receptors other than Duffy for erythrocyte invasion. However, the epidemiological significance of vivax infection in Duffy-negative individuals is unknown. Furthermore, there is no information on the evolutionary history and infection diversity of P. vivax in Duffy-negative individuals.

The findings from this study will have important implications on the vivax Duffy binding protein-based vaccine strategy against vivax infections, and significantly improve our understanding of vivax malaria distribution and transmission in a region of Africa that inhabited predominantly by Duffy-negative people. As our study sites have a large number of vivax cases, including many severe and cerebral cases and a large number of Duffy-negative individuals, they offer a unique opportunity to study the epidemiology and transmission of P. vivax in Africa.

NIH Reporter - Project details

Asymptomatic Reservoir
Genetics and Genomics
P. vivax

Aug 2013 — Jul 2016

$509,000

Ethiopia