Establishing the feasibility of using daily Dried Blood Spots (DBS) to study the natural history of low-density asymptomatic malaria infection to inform malaria elimination

There are a significant number of low-density Plasmodium infections in endemic populations, and the proportion of this type of infection appears to increase with decreasing transmission intensity. However, most studies to date have assessed these infections at a single time point or at infrequent time points, which offers little to no information on the dynamics of these infections and their possible contribution to malaria transmission. Recent data suggest that asymptomatic parasite densities may be much more dynamic than previously known. This project will measure the proportion of subjects who successfully collect daily DBS over a 28-day period, and quantify the quality of the samples collected over time. Ultrasensitive quantitative reverse transcription PCR for P. falciparum 18S rRNA and gametocyte mRNA will be combined to cost-effectively identify infected participants and then deconvolute daily samples to illustrate the parasite density kinetics. If successful, the results from this study will offer a technique to further study the dynamics of low-density parasite carriage and be generalizable to other malaria-endemic countries confronting the public health problem of asymptomatic malaria for malaria control and elimination.

Project details

Asymptomatic Reservoir
Measurement of Transmission

Mar 2020 — Feb 2023

$410,210

United States