Plasmodium infection decreases pre-existing COVID-19 antibody titers and compromises immunity in communities with high risk of malaria in the Peruvian Amazon

SARS-CoV-2 has spread throughout the world and causing infectious COVID-19. In Peru, a malaria endemic country, questions are emerging about the COVID-19 impact on ongoing efforts to control and eliminate malaria (Torres, 2020). There is limited data addressing whether co-infection or past infection with COVID-19 affects the immune response and susceptibility to malaria and vice versa (Zawawi, 2020). Previous studies have showed that the presence of viral infections such as influenza, parainfluenza, adenovirus, a human coronavirus, and rhinovirus suppressed the P. falciparum burden in peripheral blood (Waitumbi, 2010). A survey of febrile infections showed that the highest respiratory tract infection in children decreased when the malaria parasitemia increased (Hogan,2018). Pre-existing influenza specific antibodies were reduced and increased susceptibility to influenza in mice P. chaubaudi (Ng, 2014) and P. yoelii (Banga, 2015) infection. In Malian children, malaria was associated with an accelerated decline in vaccine specific IgG (tetanus, measles and hepatitis B) (Banga,2015). Thus, the immunomodulatory, including memory B cells (MBCs) (Weiss, 2010; Liu,2012), and immune-evasion capabilities of Plasmodium might play critical roles in altering virus clearance or induction of viruses’ pathology.

Explorative study.

Basic Science
Epidemiology
Vaccines (Immune Correlates)
Vulnerable Populations

Jan 2022 — Dec 2023

Peru