Limited antigenic diversity of <em>Plasmodium falciparum</em> apical membrane antigen 1 supports the development of effective multi-allele vaccines (Publications)
evasion used by many important pathogens, and presents major challenges in vaccine development. In malaria, many key immune targets and vaccine candidates show substantial polymorphism. However, knowledge [...] falciparum apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1) is an important target of naturally-acquired antibodies in malaria immunity and a leading vaccine candidate. However, AMA1 has extensive allelic diversity with more [...] single population. Therefore, AMA1 serves as an excellent model to assess...
Association between the proportion of <em>Plasmodium falciparum</em> and <em>Plasmodium vivax</em> infections detected by passive surveillance and the... (Publications)
proportion of infections detected in routine malaria data, P(Detect), was derived from paired household cross-sectional survey and routinely collected malaria data within health facilities. P(Detect) was [...] BACKGROUND: Passively collected malaria case data are the foundation for public health decision making. However, because of population-level immunity, infections might not always be sufficiently symptomatic [...] model in 431 clusters spanning the Americas, Africa, and Asia. The...
<em>Plasmodium vivax</em> antigen discovery based on alpha-helical coiled coil protein motif (Publications)
partial or high alpha-helical content. Antigenicity was evaluated using human sera samples from malaria-endemic areas of Colombia and Papua New Guinea. Eight of these fragments were selected and used to [...] BALB/c mice. ELISA assays indicated strong reactivity of serum samples from individuals residing in malaria-endemic regions and sera of immunized mice, with the alpha-helical coiled coil structures. In addition [...] whole parasites. Results here point to the alpha-helical coiled coil...
Decreased availability of antimalarials in the private sector following the policy change from chloroquine to sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine in the... (Publications)
BACKGROUND: Malaria control strategies emphasize the need for prompt and effective treatment of malaria episodes. To increase treatment efficacy, Tanzania changed its first-line treatment from chloroquine [...] villages with a total population of 13,506 (18%) had neither a health facility, nor a shop as source of malaria treatment. CONCLUSIONS: While the change to SP resulted in a higher treatment efficacy, it also led
Strong off-target antibody reactivity to malarial antigens induced by RTS,S/AS01E vaccination is associated with protection (Publications)
lower clinical malaria incidence after adjusting for age group, site and post-vaccination anti-CSP levels. RTS,S/AS01E-induced IgG may bind strongly not only to CSP, but to unrelated malaria antigens, and [...] and this seems to either confer, or at least be a marker of, increased protection from clinical malaria.
Urban agriculture and <em>Anopheles</em> habitats in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (Publications)
than a fifth of all breeding sites of malaria vectors in Dar es Salaam. It is suggested that strategies comprising an integrated malaria control effort in malaria-endemic African cities include participatory
Rapid microarray-based method for monitoring of all currently known single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with parasite resistance to antimalaria... (Publications)
cal studies of malaria drug resistance. We have designed a multiwell microarray that is used in conjunction with PCR-amplified target genes implicated in the drug resistance of malaria with subsequent [...] by RFLP of mixed infections. The system is sufficiently sensitive to assay parasites in clinical malaria cases and in most asymptomatic cases, and it allows high throughput with minimal hands-on time. The
Indifferent to disease: a qualitative investigation of the reasons why some Papua New Guineans who own mosquito nets choose not to use them (Publications)
regarding malaria transmission pathways or the utility of mosquito nets did not appear to underlie this indifference. Rather, the indifference appeared to be rooted in a lack of fear of malaria infection [...] render individual mosquito net use as easy and as convenient as possible and to promote complementary malaria control strategies where appropriate
Use of antibiotics within the IMCI guidelines in outpatient settings in Papua New Guinean children: an observational and effectiveness study (Publications)
routine outpatient clinics. METHODS: Making use of a passive case detection system established for a malaria prevention trial in outpatient clinics in Papua New Guinea, the appropriateness and effectiveness [...] antibiotics and re-attendances within 14 days for mild pneumonia, mild diarrhoea and uncomplicated malaria whether they were managed with or without antibiotics (proxy of effectiveness). Appropriateness was
Antiparasitic agents: new drugs on the horizon (Publications)
the currently available medicines. Public-private partnerships aiming to develop new medicines for malaria and sleeping sickness have, over the past 12 years, brought forward several drug candidates that [...] compounds against trypanosomes and other parasites. Thus, finally, new therapeutic agents against malaria and sleeping sickness are within reach