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Efficient Transmission of Mixed Plasmodium falciparum/vivax Infections From Humans to Mosquitoes.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:In Southeast Asia, people are often coinfected with different species of malaria (Plasmodium falciparum [Pf] and Plasmodium vivax [Pv]) as well as with multiple clones of the same species. Whether particular species or clones within mixed infections are more readily transmitted to mosquitoes remains unknown. METHODS:Laboratory-reared Anopheles dirus were fed on blood from 119 Pf-infected Cambodian adults, with 5950 dissected to evaluate for transmitted infection. Among 12 persons who infected mosquitoes, polymerase chain reaction and amplicon deep sequencing were used to track species and clone-specific transmission to mosquitoes. RESULTS:Seven of 12 persons that infected mosquitoes harbored mixed Pf/Pv infection. Among these 7 persons, all transmitted Pv with 2 transmitting both Pf and Pv, leading to Pf/Pv coinfection in 21% of infected mosquitoes. Up to 4 clones of each species were detected within persons. Shifts in clone frequency were detected during transmission. However, in general, all parasite clones in humans were transmitted to mosquitoes, with individual mosquitoes frequently carrying multiple transmitted clones. CONCLUSIONS:Malaria diversity in human hosts was maintained in the parasite populations recovered from mosquitoes fed on their blood. However, in persons with mixed Pf/Pv malaria, Pv appears to be transmitted more readily, in association with more prevalent patent gametocytemia.

SUBMITTER: Balasubramanian S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7184918 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Efficient Transmission of Mixed Plasmodium falciparum/vivax Infections From Humans to Mosquitoes.

Balasubramanian Sujata S Rahman Rifat S RS Lon Chanthap C Parobek Christian C Ubalee Ratawan R Hathaway Nicholas N Kuntawunginn Worachet W My Mok M Vy Dav D Saxe Jeremy J Lanteri Charlotte C Lin Feng-Chang FC Spring Michele M Meshnick Steven R SR Juliano Jonathan J JJ Saunders David L DL Lin Jessica T JT

The Journal of infectious diseases 20200101 3

<h4>Background</h4>In Southeast Asia, people are often coinfected with different species of malaria (Plasmodium falciparum [Pf] and Plasmodium vivax [Pv]) as well as with multiple clones of the same species. Whether particular species or clones within mixed infections are more readily transmitted to mosquitoes remains unknown.<h4>Methods</h4>Laboratory-reared Anopheles dirus were fed on blood from 119 Pf-infected Cambodian adults, with 5950 dissected to evaluate for transmitted infection. Among ...[more]

PMID: 31549156

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Project description:Malaria transmission in Latin America is generally hypoendemic and unstable, with Plasmodium vivax as the most prevalent species. However, only a few studies have been carried out in areas with low and unstable transmission, whereas the clinical profile of malaria has been broadly described in hyperendemic areas. The pattern of clinical manifestations and laboratory findings in low to moderate endemic areas of Colombia is reported here.A passive surveillance study was conducted between 2011 and 2013 involving 1,328 patients with Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax or mixed malaria infections attending malaria points-of-care of four malaria endemic-areas with distinct transmission intensities and parasite distribution. Trained physicians recorded clinical symptoms and signs as well as socio-demographic characteristics of study participants. Haematological, biochemical and urine tests were performed at the time of diagnosis.Out of 1,328 cases, 673 (50.7%) were caused by P. vivax; 650 (48.9%) were due to P. falciparum; and five (0.4%) patients had mixed infections (P. falciparum/P. vivax). Most patients (92.5%) presented with uncomplicated malaria characterized by fever, chills, headache, sweating, myalgia/arthralgia and parasitaemia ≤ 20,000 parasites/μL. Fever, tachycardia, pallor and abdominal pain on palpation were more frequent in P. falciparum patients, whereas mild hepatomegaly and splenomegaly were mostly observed with P. vivax. Non-severe anaemia (Hb 7.0-10.9 g/dL) was observed in 20% of the subjects, whereas severe anaemia (Hb < 7.0 g/dL) was present in four patients. Half of the patients presented thrombocytopaenia regardless of parasite species. Leukopaenia, neutrophilia and monocytosis were frequently observed in patients infected with P. falciparum. Mild-to-moderate biochemical alterations were present in ~25% of the patients, particularly abnormal bilirubin in those with P. falciparum and abnormal transaminases in P. vivax malaria patients. Proteinuria was present in ~50% of the patients regardless of parasite species, whereas haemoglobinuria was more common in P. vivax infections. Only 7.5% of the cases were classified as clinically severe malaria, caused by both P. vivax and P. falciparum.The high prevalence of uncomplicated malaria associated with moderate parasitaemia suggests the importance of timely diagnosis and effective treatment and encourages new activities to further decrease complicated malaria cases and mortality.

Project description:BACKGROUND:The use of molecular diagnostics has revealed an unexpectedly large number of asymptomatic low-density malaria infections in many malaria endemic areas. This study compared the gains in parasite prevalence obtained by the use of ultra-sensitive (us)-qPCR as compared to standard qPCR in cross-sectional surveys conducted in Thailand, Brazil and Papua New Guinea (PNG). The compared assays differed in the copy number of qPCR targets in the parasite genome. METHODS:Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) and Plasmodium vivax (Pv) parasites were quantified by qPCR amplifying the low-copy Pf_ and Pv_18S rRNA genes or the multi-copy targets Pf_varATS and Pv_mtCOX1. Cross-sectional surveys at the three study sites included 2252 participants of all ages and represented different transmission intensities. RESULTS:In the two low-transmission areas, P. falciparum positivity was 1.3% (10/773) (Thailand) and 0.8% (5/651) (Brazil) using standard Pf_18S rRNA qPCR. In these two countries, P. falciparum positivity by Pf_varATS us-qPCR increased to 1.9% (15/773) and 1.7% (11/651). In PNG, an area with moderate transmission intensity, P. falciparum positivity significantly increased from 8.6% (71/828) by standard qPCR to 12.2% (101/828) by us-qPCR. The proportions of P. falciparum infections not detected by standard qPCR were 33%, 55% and 30% in Thailand, Brazil and PNG. Plasmodium vivax was the predominating species in Thailand and Brazil, with 3.9% (30/773) and 4.9% (32/651) positivity by Pv_18S rRNA qPCR. In PNG, P. vivax positivity was similar to P. falciparum, at 8.0% (66/828). Use of Pv_mtCOX1 us-qPCR led to a significant increase in positivity to 5.1% (39/773), 6.4% (42/651) and 11.5% (95/828) in Thailand, Brazil, and PNG. The proportions of P. vivax infections missed by standard qPCR were similar at all three sites, with 23%, 24% and 31% in Thailand, Brazil and PNG. CONCLUSION:The proportional gains in the detection of P. falciparum and P. vivax infections by ultra-sensitive diagnostic assays were substantial at all three study sites. Thus, us-qPCR yields more precise prevalence estimates for both P. falciparum and P. vivax at all studied levels of endemicity and represents a significant diagnostic improvement. Improving sensitivity in P. vivax surveillance by us-qPCR is of particular benefit, because the additionally detected P. vivax infections signal the potential presence of hypnozoites and subsequent risk of relapse and further transmission.

Project description:BackgroundAs countries move to malaria elimination, detecting and targeting asymptomatic malaria infections might be needed. Here, the epidemiology and detectability of asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax infections were investigated in different transmission settings in Ethiopia.MethodA total of 1093 dried blood spot (DBS) samples were collected from afebrile and apparently healthy individuals across ten study sites in Ethiopia from 2016 to 2020. Of these, 862 were from community and 231 from school based cross-sectional surveys. Malaria infection status was determined by microscopy or rapid diagnostics tests (RDT) and 18S rRNA-based nested PCR (nPCR). The annual parasite index (API) was used to classify endemicity as low (API?>?0 and <?5), moderate (API???5 and <?100) and high transmission (API???100) and detectability of infections was assessed in these settings.ResultsIn community surveys, the overall prevalence of asymptomatic Plasmodium infections by microscopy/RDT, nPCR and all methods combined was 12.2% (105/860), 21.6% (183/846) and 24.1% (208/862), respectively. The proportion of nPCR positive infections that was detectable by microscopy/RDT was 48.7% (73/150) for P. falciparum and 4.6% (2/44) for P. vivax. Compared to low transmission settings, the likelihood of detecting infections by microscopy/RDT was increased in moderate (Adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 3.4; 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.6-7.2, P?=?0.002) and high endemic settings (AOR?=?5.1; 95% CI?2.6-9.9, P?<?0.001). After adjustment for site and correlation between observations from the same survey, the likelihood of detecting asymptomatic infections by microscopy/RDT (AOR per year increase?=?0.95, 95% CI?0.9-1.0, P?=?0.013) declined with age.ConclusionsConventional diagnostics missed nearly half of the asymptomatic Plasmodium reservoir detected by nPCR. The detectability of infections was particularly low in older age groups and low transmission settings. These findings highlight the need for sensitive diagnostic tools to detect the entire parasite reservoir and potential infection transmitters.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Parasite genetic diversity and multiplicity of infection (MOI) affect clinical outcomes, response to drug treatment and naturally-acquired or vaccine-induced immunity. Traditional methods often underestimate the frequency and diversity of multiclonal infections due to technical sensitivity and specificity. Next-generation sequencing techniques provide a novel opportunity to study complexity of parasite populations and molecular epidemiology. METHODS:Symptomatic and asymptomatic Plasmodium vivax samples were collected from health centres/hospitals and schools, respectively, from 2011 to 2015 in Ethiopia. Similarly, both symptomatic and asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum samples were collected, respectively, from hospitals and schools in 2005 and 2015 in Kenya. Finger-pricked blood samples were collected and dried on filter paper. Long amplicon (> 400 bp) deep sequencing of merozoite surface protein 1 (msp1) gene was conducted to determine multiplicity and molecular epidemiology of P. vivax and P. falciparum infections. The results were compared with those based on short amplicon (117 bp) deep sequencing. RESULTS:A total of 139 P. vivax and 222 P. falciparum samples were pyro-sequenced for pvmsp1 and pfmsp1, yielding a total of 21 P. vivax and 99 P. falciparum predominant haplotypes. The average MOI for P. vivax and P. falciparum were 2.16 and 2.68, respectively, which were significantly higher than that of microsatellite markers and short amplicon (117 bp) deep sequencing. Multiclonal infections were detected in 62.2% of the samples for P. vivax and 74.8% of the samples for P. falciparum. Four out of the five subjects with recurrent P. vivax malaria were found to be a relapse 44-65 days after clearance of parasites. No difference was observed in MOI among P. vivax patients of different symptoms, ages and genders. Similar patterns were also observed in P. falciparum except for one study site in Kenyan lowland areas with significantly higher MOI. CONCLUSIONS:The study used a novel method to evaluate Plasmodium MOI and molecular epidemiological patterns by long amplicon ultra-deep sequencing. The complexity of infections were similar among age groups, symptoms, genders, transmission settings (spatial heterogeneity), as well as over years (pre- vs. post-scale-up interventions). This study demonstrated that long amplicon deep sequencing is a useful tool to investigate multiplicity and molecular epidemiology of Plasmodium parasite infections.

Dataset Information

Efficient Transmission of Mixed Plasmodium falciparum/vivax Infections From Humans to Mosquitoes.

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Efficient Transmission of Mixed Plasmodium falciparum/vivax Infections From Humans to Mosquitoes.

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