Geographical heterogeneity in prevalence of subclinical malaria infections at sentinel endemic sites of Myanmar
Abstract Background The malaria burden of Myanmar still remains high within the Greater Mekong Subregion of Southeast Asia. An important indicator of progress towards malaria elimination is the prevalence of parasite infections in endemic populations. Information about malaria epidemiology is mostly...
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BMC
2019-02-01
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| Series: | Parasites & Vectors |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13071-019-3330-1 |
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| author | Ziling Liu Than Naing Soe Yan Zhao Aye Than Cho Cho Pyae Linn Aung Yuling Li Lin Wang Huilin Yang Xiangnan Li Danni Li Zhiping Peng Jiangang Wang Yan Li Zhaoqing Yang Hongning Zhou Qinghui Wang Myat Phone Kyaw Yaming Cao Liwang Cui |
| author_facet | Ziling Liu Than Naing Soe Yan Zhao Aye Than Cho Cho Pyae Linn Aung Yuling Li Lin Wang Huilin Yang Xiangnan Li Danni Li Zhiping Peng Jiangang Wang Yan Li Zhaoqing Yang Hongning Zhou Qinghui Wang Myat Phone Kyaw Yaming Cao Liwang Cui |
| author_sort | Ziling Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background The malaria burden of Myanmar still remains high within the Greater Mekong Subregion of Southeast Asia. An important indicator of progress towards malaria elimination is the prevalence of parasite infections in endemic populations. Information about malaria epidemiology is mostly derived from reports of confirmed acute malaria cases through passive case detection, whereas the prevalence of baseline subclinical malaria infections is much less known. Methods In this study, cross-sectional surveys were conducted during the rainy season of 2017 in four townships (Bilin, Thabeikkyin, Banmauk and Paletwa) of Myanmar with divergent annual malaria incidences. A total of 1991 volunteers were recruited from local villages and Plasmodium subclinical infections were estimated by light microscopy (LM), rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) and nested PCR. The nested PCR analysis was performed with a modified pooling strategy that was optimized based on an initial estimate the infection prevalence. Results The overall malaria infection prevalence based on all methods was 13.9% (277/1991) and it differed drastically among the townships, with Paletwa in the western border having the highest infection rate (22.9%) and Thabeikkyin in central Myanmar having the lowest (3.9%). As expected, nested PCR was the most sensitive and identified 226 (11.4%) individuals with parasite infections. Among the parasite species, Plasmodium vivax was the most prevalent in all locations, while Plasmodium falciparum also accounted for 32% of infections in the western township Paletwa. Two RDTs based on the detection of the hrp2 antigen detected a total of 103 P. falciparum infections, and the ultrasensitive RDT detected 20% more P. falciparum infections than the conventional RDT. In contrast, LM missed the majority of the subclinical infections and only identified 14 Plasmodium infections. Conclusions Cross-sectional surveys identified considerable levels of asymptomatic Plasmodium infections in endemic populations of Myanmar with P. vivax becoming the predominant parasite species. Geographical heterogeneity of subclinical infections calls for active surveillance of parasite infections in endemic areas. The pooling scheme designed for nested PCR analysis offers a more practical strategy for large-scale epidemiological studies of parasite prevalence. Such information is important for decision-makers to put forward a more realistic action plan for malaria elimination. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T19:44:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1468fe7d94e245b1969be2be2448df97 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1756-3305 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T19:44:49Z |
| publishDate | 2019-02-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Parasites & Vectors |
| spelling | doaj.art-1468fe7d94e245b1969be2be2448df972022-12-21T18:52:21ZengBMCParasites & Vectors1756-33052019-02-011211910.1186/s13071-019-3330-1Geographical heterogeneity in prevalence of subclinical malaria infections at sentinel endemic sites of MyanmarZiling Liu0Than Naing Soe1Yan Zhao2Aye Than3Cho Cho4Pyae Linn Aung5Yuling Li6Lin Wang7Huilin Yang8Xiangnan Li9Danni Li10Zhiping Peng11Jiangang Wang12Yan Li13Zhaoqing Yang14Hongning Zhou15Qinghui Wang16Myat Phone Kyaw17Yaming Cao18Liwang Cui19Department of Immunology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, China Medical UniversityDepartment of Public Health, Ministry of Health and SportsDepartment of Immunology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, China Medical UniversityMyanmar Medical AssociationMyanmar Medical AssociationMyanmar Medical AssociationDepartment of Immunology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, China Medical UniversityDepartment of Immunology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, China Medical UniversityDepartment of Immunology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, China Medical UniversityDepartment of Immunology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, China Medical UniversityDepartment of Immunology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, China Medical UniversityDepartment of Clinical Laboratory, Baotou central HospitalDepartment of Clinical Laboratory, Baotou central HospitalDepartment of Clinical Laboratory, Baotou central HospitalDepartment of Pathogen Biology and Immunology, Kunming Medical UniversityYunnan Provincial Center of Arborvirus Research, Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Vector-borne Diseases Control and Research, Yunnan Institute of Parasitic DiseasesDepartment of Immunology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, China Medical UniversityMyanmar Medical AssociationDepartment of Immunology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, China Medical UniversityDepartment of Immunology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, China Medical UniversityAbstract Background The malaria burden of Myanmar still remains high within the Greater Mekong Subregion of Southeast Asia. An important indicator of progress towards malaria elimination is the prevalence of parasite infections in endemic populations. Information about malaria epidemiology is mostly derived from reports of confirmed acute malaria cases through passive case detection, whereas the prevalence of baseline subclinical malaria infections is much less known. Methods In this study, cross-sectional surveys were conducted during the rainy season of 2017 in four townships (Bilin, Thabeikkyin, Banmauk and Paletwa) of Myanmar with divergent annual malaria incidences. A total of 1991 volunteers were recruited from local villages and Plasmodium subclinical infections were estimated by light microscopy (LM), rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) and nested PCR. The nested PCR analysis was performed with a modified pooling strategy that was optimized based on an initial estimate the infection prevalence. Results The overall malaria infection prevalence based on all methods was 13.9% (277/1991) and it differed drastically among the townships, with Paletwa in the western border having the highest infection rate (22.9%) and Thabeikkyin in central Myanmar having the lowest (3.9%). As expected, nested PCR was the most sensitive and identified 226 (11.4%) individuals with parasite infections. Among the parasite species, Plasmodium vivax was the most prevalent in all locations, while Plasmodium falciparum also accounted for 32% of infections in the western township Paletwa. Two RDTs based on the detection of the hrp2 antigen detected a total of 103 P. falciparum infections, and the ultrasensitive RDT detected 20% more P. falciparum infections than the conventional RDT. In contrast, LM missed the majority of the subclinical infections and only identified 14 Plasmodium infections. Conclusions Cross-sectional surveys identified considerable levels of asymptomatic Plasmodium infections in endemic populations of Myanmar with P. vivax becoming the predominant parasite species. Geographical heterogeneity of subclinical infections calls for active surveillance of parasite infections in endemic areas. The pooling scheme designed for nested PCR analysis offers a more practical strategy for large-scale epidemiological studies of parasite prevalence. Such information is important for decision-makers to put forward a more realistic action plan for malaria elimination.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13071-019-3330-1MyanmarMalariaPrevalenceSubclinicalPooling strategy |
| spellingShingle | Ziling Liu Than Naing Soe Yan Zhao Aye Than Cho Cho Pyae Linn Aung Yuling Li Lin Wang Huilin Yang Xiangnan Li Danni Li Zhiping Peng Jiangang Wang Yan Li Zhaoqing Yang Hongning Zhou Qinghui Wang Myat Phone Kyaw Yaming Cao Liwang Cui Geographical heterogeneity in prevalence of subclinical malaria infections at sentinel endemic sites of Myanmar Parasites & Vectors Myanmar Malaria Prevalence Subclinical Pooling strategy |
| title | Geographical heterogeneity in prevalence of subclinical malaria infections at sentinel endemic sites of Myanmar |
| title_full | Geographical heterogeneity in prevalence of subclinical malaria infections at sentinel endemic sites of Myanmar |
| title_fullStr | Geographical heterogeneity in prevalence of subclinical malaria infections at sentinel endemic sites of Myanmar |
| title_full_unstemmed | Geographical heterogeneity in prevalence of subclinical malaria infections at sentinel endemic sites of Myanmar |
| title_short | Geographical heterogeneity in prevalence of subclinical malaria infections at sentinel endemic sites of Myanmar |
| title_sort | geographical heterogeneity in prevalence of subclinical malaria infections at sentinel endemic sites of myanmar |
| topic | Myanmar Malaria Prevalence Subclinical Pooling strategy |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13071-019-3330-1 |
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