Measuring health facility readiness and its effects on severe malaria outcomes in Uganda (Publications)
role of health service delivery to the malaria decline in Uganda We developed a methodology to quantify health facility readiness and assessed its role on severe malaria outcomes among lower-level facilities [...] facilities (HCIIIs and HCIIs) in the country. Malaria data was extracted from the Health Management Information System (HMIS). General service and malaria-specific readiness indicators were obtained from the [...] factorial axes. Geostatistical models assessed the effect of facility...
Spatial-temporal heterogeneity in malaria receptivity is best estimated by vector biting rates in areas nearing elimination (Publications)
when vector control can be withdrawn after malaria is eliminated depend on the receptivity or potential of an area to support vector populations. To guide malaria control and elimination programmes, the potential [...] estimate malaria receptivity and transmission were compared within and among geographically localised villages of active transmission in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. RESULTS: Malaria transmission [...] inoculation and parity rates could not be measured with the...
Diagnostic performance of conventional and ultrasensitive rapid diagnostic tests for malaria in febrile outpatients in Tanzania (Publications)
Background: A novel ultra-sensitive malaria RDT (us-RDT) has been developed for improved active P.falciparum case detection. The utility of this us-RDT in clinical diagnosis and fever management has not [...] infections. Conclusion: There is neither gain nor risk to apply us-RDT rather than co-RDT for clinical malaria diagnosis. In febrile patients, only a small proportion of infections are characterized by parasite
Hearing of malaria mosquitoes is modulated by a beta-adrenergic-like octopamine receptor which serves as insecticide target (Publications)
Malaria mosquitoes acoustically detect their mating partners within large swarms that form transiently at dusk. Indeed, male malaria mosquitoes preferably respond to female flight tones during swarm time
The malaria blood stage antigen <em>Pf</em>CyRPA formulated with the TLR-4 agonist adjuvant GLA-SE elicits parasite growth inhibitory antibodies in... (Publications)
BACKGROUND: Plasmodium falciparum cysteine-rich protective antigen (PfCyRPA) is an invasion complex protein essential for erythrocyte invasion. In contrast to several previously clinically tested mero
Malaria rapid diagnostic tests reliably detect asymptomatic <em>Plasmodium falciparum</em> infections in school-aged children that are infectious to... (Publications)
this study, malaria rapid diagnostic tests (mRDT), light microscopy (LM) and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) were used to evaluate their performance detecting asymptomatic malaria infections [...] BACKGROUND: Asymptomatic malaria infections (Plasmodium falciparum) are common in school-aged children and represent a disease transmission reservoir as they are potentially infectious to mosquitoes. To [...] was 31.7% by qPCR, 18.2% by mRDT and 9.4% by LM. Approximately one-third (31.2%)...
Geo-epidemiology of malaria incidence in the Vhembe District to guide targeted elimination strategies, South-Africa, 2015-2018: a local resurgence (Publications)
to classify the 474 smoothed malaria incidence curves. Thereafter, validity indices were used to determine the number of malaria incidence patterns. The cumulative malaria incidence of the study area was [...] Findings show also unusual malaria phenomena in Vhembe District that hinder malaria elimination in South Africa. Assessing the factors associated with these unusual malaria phenome would be helpful on [...] results. Therefore, in the process of refining local malaria control and...
Similar prevalence of <em>Plasmodium falciparum</em> and Non-<em>P. falciparum</em> malaria infections among schoolchildren, Tanzania (Publications)
ovale infections were single-species infections, and 35% of those were detected in low malaria endemic regions. P. malariae infections were predominantly (73%) co-infections with P. falciparum. P. vivax was [...] Achieving malaria elimination requires considering both Plasmodium falciparum and non-P. falciparum infections. We determined prevalence and geographic distribution of 4 Plasmodium spp. by performing PCR [...] during 2017. Among 3,456 schoolchildren, 22% had P. falciparum, 24% had P....
A chromosomal reference genome sequence for the malaria mosquito <em>Anopheles gambia, </em>Giles, 1902, Ifakara strain (Publications)
We present a genome assembly from an individual female Anopheles gambiae (the malaria mosquito; Arthropoda; Insecta; Diptera; Culicidae), Ifakara strain. The genome sequence is 264 megabases in span. Most
A randomized, double-blind placebo-control study assessing the protective efficacy of an odour-based 'push-pull' malaria vector control strategy in... (Publications)
Novel malaria vector control strategies targeting the odour-orientation of mosquitoes during host-seeking, such as 'attract-and-kill' or 'push-and-pull', have been suggested as complementary tools to indoor [...] densities using light-traps. None of the interventions provided any protection from outdoor biting malaria vectors. The 'push' reduced indoor vector densities dominated by Anopheles funestus by around two