biostudies-literatureAndolina CBill & Melinda Gates FoundationEuropean Research CouncilNIAID NIH HHSInternational Centers of Excellence in Malaria ResearchInternational Centers of Excellence in Malaria Research (ICEMR) program7072https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC10150352biostudies-literatureUnknown13(1)Malaria transmission depends on the presence of Plasmodium gametocytes that are the only parasite life stage that can infect mosquitoes. Gametocyte production varies between infections and over the course of infections. Infection duration is highly important for gametocyte production but poorly quantified. Between 2017 and 2019 an all-age cohort of individuals from Tororo, eastern Uganda was followed by continuous passive and routine assessments. We longitudinally monitored 104 incident infections from 98 individuals who were sampled once every 28 days and on any day of symptoms. Among infections that lasted ≥ 3 months, gametocyte appearance was near-universal with 96% of infections having detectable gametocytes prior to clearance. However, most infections were of much shorter duration; 55Scientific reportsPlasmodium falciparum gametocyte carriage in longitudinally monitored incident infections is associated with duration of infection and human host factors.PMC10150352AI075045AI089674INDIE OPP1173572864180R01 AI075045U19 AI089674K24 AI144048ERC-CoG 864180OPP1169785R56 AI075045Lanke KOkoth JAydemir OStaedke SGGrignard LKamya MRJonker MGreenhouse BRek JArinaitwe EDrakeley CAndolina CDorsey GBriggs JBailey JBousema TRamjith JfalsePlasmodium falciparum gametocyte carriage in longitudinally monitored incident infections is associated with duration of infection and human host factors.Malaria transmission depends on the presence of Plasmodium gametocytes that are the only parasite life stage that can infect mosquitoes. Gametocyte production varies between infections and over the course of infections. Infection duration is highly important for gametocyte production but poorly quantified. Between 2017 and 2019 an all-age cohort of individuals from Tororo, eastern Uganda was followed by continuous passive and routine assessments. We longitudinally monitored 104 incident infections from 98 individuals who were sampled once every 28 days and on any day of symptoms. Among infections that lasted ≥ 3 months, gametocyte appearance was near-universal with 96% of infections having detectable gametocytes prior to clearance. However, most infections were of much shorter duration; 552023-01-01T00:00:00Z2023 May2026-04-30T12:58:46.161Z2025-02-19T02:38:52.843ZS-EPMC101503523712768810.1038/s41598-023-33657-3