Asymptomatic School-Aged Children Are Important Drivers of Malaria Transmission in a High Endemicity Setting in Uganda.

Rek, John; Blanken, Sara Lynn; Okoth, Joseph; Ayo, Daniel; Onyige, Ismail; Musasizi, Eric; Ramjith, Jordache; Andolina, Chiara; Lanke, Kjerstin; Arinaitwe, Emmanuel; +8 more... Olwoch, Peter; Collins, Katharine A; Kamya, Moses R; Dorsey, Grant; Drakeley, Chris; Staedke, Sarah G; Bousema, Teun; Conrad, Melissa D; (2022) Asymptomatic School-Aged Children Are Important Drivers of Malaria Transmission in a High Endemicity Setting in Uganda. The Journal of infectious diseases, 226 (4). pp. 708-713. ISSN 0022-1899 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiac169

Abstract

Achieving malaria elimination requires a better understanding of the transmissibility of human infections in different transmission settings. This study aimed to characterize the human infectious reservoir in a high endemicity setting in eastern Uganda, using gametocyte quantification and mosquito feeding assays. In asymptomatic infections, gametocyte densities were positively associated with the proportion of infected mosquitoes (β = 1.60; 95% CI, 1.32-1.92; P < .0001). Combining transmissibility and abundance in the population, symptomatic and asymptomatic infections were estimated to contribute to 5.3% and 94.7% of the infectious reservoir, respectively. School-aged children (5-15 years old) contributed to 50.4% of transmission events and were important drivers of malaria transmission.

Additional Information

Item Type	Article
Faculty and Department	Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases > Department of Infection Biology Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases > Dept of Clinical Research
PubMed ID	35578987
Elements ID	180016