Converging human and malaria vector diagnostics with data management towards an integrated holistic One Health approach (Publications)
Monitoring malaria prevalence in humans, as well as vector populations, for the presence of Plasmodium, is an integral component of effective malaria control, and eventually, elimination. In the field [...] precisely, the causative agent of fever, thereby differentiating among several candidate (also non-malaria) febrile diseases. This requires genetic-based pathogen identification and multiplexed analysis,
Longitudinal estimation of <em>Plasmodium falciparum </em>prevalence in relation to malaria prevention measures in six sub-Saharan African countries (Publications)
(PfPR) is a widely used metric for assessing malaria transmission intensity. This study was carried out concurrently with the RTS,S/AS01 candidate malaria vaccine Phase III trial and estimated PfPR over [...] 3 sites. Surveys were usually performed during the peak malaria parasite transmission season, in one home visit, when medical history and malaria risk factors/prevention measures were collected, and a blood [...] 0.52, 0.68, 0.41) and bed net use in 2 surveys (ORs: 0.63, 0.68, 1.03, 1.78)...
Multiple insecticide resistance in <em>Anopheles gambiae</em> from Tanzania: a major concern for malaria vector control (Publications)
development of insecticide resistance in the major malaria vectors. This study was carried out to monitor the susceptibility status of major malaria vectors to insecticides used for IRS and LLINs in mainland [...] BACKGROUND: Malaria vector control in Tanzania is based on use of long-lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS), which both rely on the use of chemical insecticides. [...] An. gambiae sensu stricto (s.s.) Kisumu strain. RESULTS: Anopheles arabiensis...
Lysophosphatidylcholine regulates sexual stage differentiation in the human malaria parasite <em>Plasmodium falciparum</em> (Publications)
bottleneck in the Plasmodium life cycle and a key intervention target of ongoing efforts to eradicate malaria. Sexual differentiation is essential for this process, as only sexual parasites, called gametocytes [...] activation of sexual-stage-specific transcription and gametocyte formation. Our results reveal that malaria parasites can sense and process host-derived physiological signals to regulate differentiation. These [...] of the sexual differentiation pathway in Plasmodium that may provide...
Mapping multiple components of malaria risk for improved targeting of elimination interventions (Publications)
component, related mappable malaria metrics are also described which may be measured and evaluated by malaria programmes seeking to better understand the determinants of malaria risk. Implementing tailored [...] There is a long history of considering the constituent components of malaria risk and the malaria transmission cycle via the use of mathematical models, yet strategic planning in endemic countries tends [...] tends not to take full advantage of available disease intelligence to tailor...
Infant and child mortality in relation to malaria transmission in KEMRI/CDC HDSS, Western Kenya: validation of verbal autopsy (Publications)
(VA) is widely used for estimating malaria specific mortality rates, but does not reliably distinguish malaria from other febrile illnesses. Overall malaria attributable mortality includes both direct and [...] both all-cause and malaria-specific mortality. 48.2% of the deaths could be attributed to malaria by analysing the exposure-response relationship, though only 20.5% of VAs assigned malaria as the cause and [...] BACKGROUND: Malaria transmission reduction is a goal of many malaria control...
Global action for training in malaria elimination [Commentary] (Publications)
The Rethinking Malaria Leadership Forum, held at Harvard Business School in February 2017 with collaboration of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute [...] training gap as a high priority for both analysis and action. The gap in human resource training for malaria elimination needs to be addressed in order to assure continued progress. This paper identifies major [...] assist in filling the training gaps, and proposes global actions to...
Development of amplicon deep sequencing markers and data analysis pipeline for genotyping multi-clonal malaria infections (Publications)
BACKGROUND: Amplicon deep sequencing permits sensitive detection of minority clones and improves discriminatory power for genotyping multi-clone Plasmodium falciparum infections. New amplicon sequenci