Strong isolation by distance and evidence of population microstructure reflect ongoing Plasmodium falciparum transmission in Zanzibar.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The Zanzibar archipelago of Tanzania has become a low-transmission area for Plasmodium falciparum. Despite being considered an area of pre-elimination for years, achieving elimination has been difficult, likely due to a combination of imported infections from mainland Tanzania and continued local transmission.

Methods

To shed light on these sources of transmission, we applied highly multiplexed genotyping utilizing molecular inversion probes to characterize the genetic relatedness of 282 P. falciparum isolates collected across Zanzibar and in Bagamoyo district on the coastal mainland from 2016 to 2018.

Results

Overall, parasite populations on the coastal mainland and Zanzibar archipelago remain highly related. However, parasite isolates from Z

SUBMITTER: Connelly SV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11210957 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature