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. 2024 Dec 30;14(1):31977.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-83487-0.

Epidemiology and diversity of Plasmodium species in Franceville and their implications for malaria control

Larson Boundenga  1   2 , Yann Vital Sima-Biyang  3   4 , Neil Michel Longo-Pendy  3 , Michelle Bignoumba  3 , Clark Mbou-Boutambe  3 , Clauve Jauvert Moukagni-Mussadji  3 , Dorothé Marielle Wora  3 , Fabrice Kassa-Kassa  3 , Richard Onanga  3 , Cyrille Bisseye  5 , Francine Ntoumi  6   7 , Ayola Akim Adegnika  7   8   9 , Jean-Bernard Lekana-Douki  3   9   10
Affiliations

Epidemiology and diversity of Plasmodium species in Franceville and their implications for malaria control

Larson Boundenga et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Malaria is a significant public health challenge in Gabon, with high prevalence rates in rural and semi-urban areas. This study investigated Plasmodium infection prevalence among outpatients at a medical laboratory in Franceville, Gabon, in 2020. Data from 500 patients were analyzed, revealing an overall infection rate of 33.2% and the presence of four Plasmodium species: P. falciparum, P. malariae, P. ovale, and possibly P. vivax for the first time in Gabon. Co-infections were common, with P. falciparum and P. ovale spp. being the most prevalent at 23.5%. Asymptomatic infections accounted for 81.3% of cases, while symptomatic infections were 18.7%. P. falciparum was associated with symptomatic cases, while non-falciparum species were linked to asymptomatic infections. The findings suggest Franceville has perennial malaria transmission, highlighting the role of Plasmodium species diversity in disease severity and clinical presentation, including the first report of P. vivax infection in the Gabonese population.

Keywords: Plasmodium species; Diagnosis; Franceville; Gabon; Malaria.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethical approval: This study was done according to the Declaration of Helsinki. It was approved by the National Research Ethics Committee of Gabon (Approval No. 001/PR/SG/CNER/2018). Prior to participation, written informed consent was obtained from adult participants or their legal guardians for minor children (< 18 years). The data collection process was conducted anonymously as part of the routine analyses performed in the Medical Analysis Laboratory at CIRMF.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
(A) Temporal variation of the prevalence of malaria and the plasmodial species involved. (B) Different association of human malaria species.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
(A) Factors influencing Plasmodium spp parasitaemia, (B) Prediction of parasitaemia according to the type of infection.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Temporal variation of the prevalence of malaria according to the method of diagnosis.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Characterisation of malaria infection as a function of haematological and biochemical variables, colored according to the cosine squared value (measuring the quality of the variables on the PCA graph). (A) Canonical weight of each variable on the principal components; the arrow size indicates the importance of the parameter. PCA diagrams showing correlations between haemato-biochemical characteristics and (B) Presence/absence of plasmodial infection. (C) Different clinical manifestations of Plasmodium infection and (D) the different plasmodial species involved.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Localization of study site. The map of Gabon was created using QGIS software version 2.2.0 (https://qgis.org/fr/site/) and enhanced using Adobe Illustrator CS6 version 16.0.0 (http://www.adobe.com/de/products/illustrator.html). The brown area represents the province where the study was conducted, while the building indicates the geographical position of the CIRMF research center.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Algorithm to detect malaria parasites and identify malaria parasites species.
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