A Cohort Study on the Duration of Plasmodium falciparum Infections During the Dry Season in The Gambia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In areas where Plasmodium falciparum malaria is seasonal, a dry season reservoir of blood-stage infection is essential for initiating transmission during the following wet season.

Methods

In The Gambia, a cohort of 42 individuals with quantitative polymerase chain reaction-positive P falciparum infections at the end of the transmission season (December) were followed monthly until the end of the dry season (May) to evaluate infection persistence. The influence of human host and parasitological factors was investigated.

Results

A large proportion of individuals infected at the end of the wet season had detectable infections until the end of the dry season (40.0%; 16 of 40). At the start of the dry season, the majority of these persistent infections (82%) had

SUBMITTER: Collins KA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9373158 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature