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
[Preprint]. 2023 Dec 30:2023.12.28.23300584.
doi: 10.1101/2023.12.28.23300584.

Malaria species prevalence among asymptomatic individuals in four regions of Mainland Tanzania

Zachary R Popkin Hall  1 , Misago D Seth  2 , Rashid A Madebe  2 , Rule Budodo  2 , Catherine Bakari  2 , Filbert Francis  3 , Dativa Pereus  2 , David J Giesbrecht  4 , Celine I Mandara  2 , Daniel Mbwambo  5 , Sijenunu Aaron  5 , Abdallah Lusasi  5 , Samwel Lazaro  5 , Jeffrey A Bailey  6   7 , Jonathan J Juliano  1 , Julie R Gutman  8 , Deus S Ishengoma  2   9   10
Affiliations

Malaria species prevalence among asymptomatic individuals in four regions of Mainland Tanzania

Zachary R Popkin Hall et al. medRxiv. .

Update in

Abstract

Recent studies point to the need to incorporate non-falciparum species detection into malaria surveillance activities in sub-Saharan Africa, where 95% of malaria cases occur. Although Plasmodium falciparum infection is typically more severe, diagnosis, treatment, and control for P. malariae, P. ovale spp., and P. vivax may be more challenging. The prevalence of these species throughout sub-Saharan Africa is poorly defined. Tanzania has geographically heterogeneous transmission levels but an overall high malaria burden. In order to estimate the prevalence of malaria species in Mainland Tanzania, 1,428 samples were randomly selected from 6,005 asymptomatic isolates collected in cross-sectional community surveys across four regions and analyzed via qPCR to detect each Plasmodium species. P. falciparum was most prevalent, with P. malariae and P. ovale spp. detected at lower prevalence (<5%) in all four regions. P. vivax was not detected. Malaria elimination efforts in Tanzania will need to account for these non-falciparum species.

Keywords: Plasmodium malariae; Plasmodium ovale; Plasmodium vivax; Tanzania; asymptomatic malaria; malaria; non-falciparum species.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: We declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1 –
Figure 1 –
Maps of Tanzania showing A) location of study regions, B) P. falciparum regional prevalence, C) P. malariae regional prevalence, and D) P. ovale spp. regional prevalence. P. vivax was not detected, so is not mapped.
Figure 2 –
Figure 2 –
Tukey Analysis of Malaria Species Prevalence by Age Group. A total of 826, 234, and 368 were in the Young Children (<5 years), Schoolchildren (5–16 years), and Adult (>16 years) groups, respectively. The total number of samples per group for each species is shown in the X-axis labels while the number of positive samples for each group is shown in the bar labels. Comparisons marked with a * are significant at the p<0.05 level. Panel A shows P. falciparum prevalence by age group. Significant pairwise comparisons are marked, while the other is insignificant. Panel B shows P. malariae prevalence by age group. One significant pairwise comparison is marked, while the others are insignificant. Panel C shows P. ovale spp. prevalence by age group. No pairwise comparisons are significant.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization. World malaria report 2022. Geneva; 2022.
    1. Akala HM, Watson OJ, Mitei KK, Juma DW, Verity R, Ingasia LA, et al. Plasmodium interspecies interactions during a period of increasing prevalence of Plasmodium ovale in symptomatic individuals seeking treatment: an observational study. The Lancet Microbe [Internet]. 2021. [cited 2022 Mar 31];2:e141–50. Available from: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2666524721000094 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Betson M, Clifford S, Stanton M, Kabatereine NB, Stothard JR. Emergence of Nonfalciparum Plasmodium Infection Despite Regular Artemisinin Combination Therapy in an 18-Month Longitudinal Study of Ugandan Children and Their Mothers. J Infect Dis [Internet]. Oxford Academic; 2018. [cited 2022 Mar 31];217:1099–109. Available from: https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/217/7/1099/4791878 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yman V, Wandell G, Mutemi DD, Miglar A, Asghar M, Hammar U, et al. Persistent transmission of Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium ovale species in an area of declining Plasmodium falciparum transmission in eastern Tanzania. Marks F, editor. PLoS Negl Trop Dis [Internet]. Public Library of Science; 2019. [cited 2021 Apr 19];13:e0007414. Available from: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0007414 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nguiffo-Nguete D, Nongley Nkemngo F, Ndo C, Agbor J-P, Boussougou-Sambe ST, Salako Djogbénou L, et al. Plasmodium malariae contributes to high levels of malaria transmission in a forest–savannah transition area in Cameroon. Parasites Vectors 2023 161 [Internet]. BioMed Central; 2023. [cited 2023 Jan 30];16:1–10. Available from: 10.1186/s13071-022-05635-7 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types