ArticleBMC infectious diseases2021
Increased investment in gametocytes in asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum infections in the wet season.
Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- School-aged children as a silent reservoir of Plasmodium falciparum: findings from a cross-sectional survey conducted in Burkina Faso in 2022.Malaria journal · 2026Article
- Modelling the effects of diurnal temperature variation on malaria infection dynamics in mosquitoes.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Bionomics and distribution of malaria vectors in Kisumu city, Western Kenya: implications for urban malaria transmission.Malaria journal · 2025Article
- Descriptive, Hospital-Based, 10-Year Study of Malaria Transmission in Goa, a Southwest Indian State in the Malaria Elimination Phase.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2024Article
- Asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum carriage and clinical disease: a 5-year community-based longitudinal study in The Gambia.Malaria journal · 2023Article
- Accuracy of diagnosis among clinical malaria patients: comparing microscopy, RDT and a highly sensitive quantitative PCR looking at the implications for submicroscopic infections.Malaria journal · 2023Article
- Article
- Altitude, not potential larval habitat availability, explains pronounced variation in Plasmodium falciparum infection prevalence in the western Kenya highlands.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- High-throughputeLife · 2022Article
- Rare Alleles and Signatures of Selection on the Immunodominant Domains of Pfs230 and Pfs48/45 in Malaria Parasites From Western Kenya.Frontiers in genetics · 2022Article
- Hyper-prevalence of submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum infections in a rural area of western Kenya with declining malaria cases.Malaria journal · 2021Article
- Stressed Out AboutFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021Review
- Review
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundTransmission stemming from asymptomatic infections is increasingly being recognized as a threat to malaria elimination. In many regions, malaria transmission is seasonal. It is not well understood whether Plasmodium falciparum modulates its investment in transmission to coincide with seasonal vector abundance.
methodsWe sampled 1116 asymptomatic individuals in the wet season, when vectors are abundant, and 1743 in the dry season, in two sites in western Kenya, representing different transmission intensities (Chulaimbo, moderate transmission, and Homa Bay, low transmission). Blood samples were screened for P. falciparum by qPCR, and gametocytes by pfs25 RT-qPCR.
resultsParasite prevalence by qPCR was 27.1% (Chulaimbo, dry), 48.2% (Chulaimbo, wet), 9.4% (Homabay, dry), and 7.8% (Homabay, wet). Mean parasite densities did not differ between seasons (P = 0.562). pfs25 transcripts were detected in 119/456 (26.1%) of infections. In the wet season, fewer infections harbored detectable gametocytes (22.3% vs. 33.8%, P = 0.009), but densities were 3-fold higher (wet: 3.46 transcripts/uL, dry: 1.05 transcripts/uL, P < 0.001). In the dry season, 4.0% of infections carried gametocytes at moderate-to-high densities likely infective (> 1 gametocyte per 2 uL blood), compared to 7.9% in the wet season. Children aged 5-15 years harbored 76.7% of infections with gametocytes at moderate-to-high densities.
conclusionsParasites increase their investment in transmission in the wet season, reflected by higher gametocyte densities. Despite increased gametocyte densities, parasite density remained similar across seasons and were often below the limit of detection of microscopy or rapid diagnostic test, thus a large proportion of infective infections would escape population screening in the wet season. Seasonal changes of gametocytemia in asymptomatic infections need to be considered when designing malaria control measures.
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