ArticleMalaria journal2026
School-aged children as a silent reservoir of Plasmodium falciparum: findings from a cross-sectional survey conducted in Burkina Faso in 2022.
Article in Malaria journal, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Sociodemographic and socioeconomic predictors of asymptomatic malaria among children and adolescents in rural Guinea: a longitudinal study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
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9 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundAsymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum infections sustain malaria transmission and challenge elimination efforts. School-aged children may serve as a key reservoir, yet are often overlooked in malaria control programs.
methodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted in July 2022 across Banfora, Orodara, and Gaoua districts (Burkina Faso), enrolling 1,127 children aged from 6 months to 10 years. Malaria diagnosis was performed using HRP2-based RDT, expert microscopy, and qPCR. Children with fever (> 37.5 °C) were excluded from asymptomatic analysis.
resultsPrevalence of asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum infection was 28.0% by RDT and 31.9% by microscopy. Among school-aged children (5-10 years), 66.5% tested positive by microscopy versus 21.6% in children under five. Gametocyte carriage reached 3.9% overall and was twice as high in school-aged children (67 vs. 32 gametocytes/μL). Microscopy outperformed RDT in sensitivity (76.7% vs. 67.7%), specificity (100% vs. 96.2%), and positive predictive value (100% vs. 83.8%) using qPCR as reference. Most infections were due to P. falciparum (98.2%), with mixed infections being rare.
conclusionSchool-aged children are a major reservoir for asymptomatic and potentially infectious malaria. Their inclusion in surveillance and control strategies is critical. Expert microscopy remains a reliable field tool to detect asymptomatic carriage in high-burden areas.
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