Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Nov 6;11(4):415-430.
doi: 10.1111/eva.12530. eCollection 2018 Apr.

Putting evolution in elimination: Winning our ongoing battle with evolving malaria mosquitoes and parasites

Silvie Huijben  1 , Krijn P Paaijmans  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Putting evolution in elimination: Winning our ongoing battle with evolving malaria mosquitoes and parasites

Silvie Huijben et al. Evol Appl. .

Abstract

Since 2000, the world has made significant progress in reducing malaria morbidity and mortality, and several countries in Africa, South America and South-East Asia are working hard to eliminate the disease. These elimination efforts continue to rely heavily on antimalarial drugs and insecticide-based interventions, which remain the cornerstones of malaria treatment and prevention. However, resistance has emerged against nearly every antimalarial drug and insecticide that is available. In this review we discuss the evolutionary consequences of the way we currently implement antimalarial interventions, which is leading to resistance and may ultimately lead to control failure, but also how evolutionary principles can be applied to extend the lifespan of current and novel interventions. A greater understanding of the general evolutionary principles that are at the core of emerging resistance is urgently needed if we are to develop improved resistance management strategies with the ultimate goal to achieve a malaria-free world.

Keywords: drug resistance; evolutionary medicine; insecticide resistance; malaria elimination; resistance management strategies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Current and novel interventions aiming to reduce malaria prevalence by either clearing the parasites from the human and/or mosquito or by reducing the transmission probability from mosquito to human or vice versa
Figure 2
Figure 2
Resistance to the insecticide classes organochlorides (a), organophosphates (b), carbamates (c) and pyrethroids (d) in Anopheles species, reported between 2000 and present day (IRmapper.com, assessed 14 June 2017). Reported cases (based on WHO susceptibility tests and CDC bottle assays). Red dots: confirmed resistance (<90% mortality), yellow dots: possible resistance (90%–97% mortality), green dots: susceptibility (98%–100% mortality)
Figure 3
Figure 3
Selective sweeps of chloroquine‐ (a), pyrimethamine–sulphadoxine‐ (b) and artemisinin (pfKelch13 C580Y lineage)‐ (c) resistant mutants inferred from molecular evolution studies. SP resistance may have several local origins in Kenya (denoted by “????”), but the majority of dhfr SP‐resistant infections are a consequence of a selective sweep from a single origin in South‐East Asia. Figure 2a,b is redrawn from Read & Huijben, 2009; and Figure 2c is redrawn from Imwong et al., 2017
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abdul‐Ghani, R. , Mahdy, M. A. K. , Beier, J. C. , & Basco, L. K. (2017). Hidden reservoir of resistant parasites: the missing link in the elimination of falciparum malaria. Infectious Diseases of Poverty, 6(1), 12 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40249-016-0227-5 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Adamo, S. A. , & Webster, J. P. (2013). Neural parasitology: How parasites manipulate host behaviour. Journal of Experimental Biology, 216, 1–2. - PubMed
    1. Alout, H. , Dabiré, R. K. , Djogbénou, L. , Abate, L. , Corbel, V. , Chandre, F. , & Cohuet, A. (2016). Interactive cost of Plasmodium infection and insecticide resistance in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae . Scientific Reports, 6, 29755 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep29755 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alout, H. , Ndam, N. T. , Sandeu, M. M. , Djégbe, I. , Chandre, F. , Dabiré, R. K. , … Cohuet, A. (2013). Insecticide resistance alleles affect vector competence of Anopheles gambiae s.s. for Plasmodium falciparum field isolates. PLoS ONE, 8(5), e63849 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0063849 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alout, H. , Yameogo, B. , Djogbenou, L. S. , Chandre, F. , Dabire, R. K. , Corbel, V. , & Cohuet, A. (2014). Interplay between plasmodium infection and resistance to insecticides in vector mosquitoes. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 210(9), 1464–1470. https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiu276 - DOI - PubMed