In this low-endemic setting aiming for malaria elimination, asymptomatic infections were highly prevalent and responsible for the majority of onward mosquito infections. The early identification and treatment of asymptomatic infections might accelerate elimination efforts.

Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes, efficient vectors in parts of Asia and Africa, were found in 75.3% of water sources surveyed and contributed to 80.9% of wild-caught Anopheles mosquitoes in Awash Sebat Kilo, Ethiopia. High susceptibility of these mosquitoes to Plasmodium falciparum and vivax infection presents a challenge for malaria control in the Horn of Africa.

Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax co-exist at different endemicity levels across Ethiopia. For over two decades Artemether-Lumefantrine (AL) is the first line treatment for uncomplicated P. falciparum, while chloroquine (CQ) is still used to treat P. vivax. It is currently unclear whether a shift from CQ to AL for P. falciparum treatment has implications for AL efficacy and results in a reversal of mutations in genes associated to CQ resistance, given the high co-endemicity of the two species and the continued availability of CQ for the treatment of P. vivax. This study thus assessed the prevalence of Pfcrt-K76T and Pfmdr1-N86Y point mutations in P. falciparum. 18S RNA gene based nested PCR confirmed P. falciparum samples (N = 183) collected through community and health facility targeted cross-sectional surveys from settings with varying P. vivax and P. falciparum endemicity were used. The proportion of Plasmodium infections that were P. vivax was 62.2% in Adama, 41.4% in Babile, 30.0% in Benishangul-Gumuz to 6.9% in Gambella. The Pfcrt-76T mutant haplotype was observed more from samples with higher endemicity of P. vivax as being 98.4% (61/62), 100% (31/31), 65.2% (15/23) and 41.5% (22/53) in samples from Adama, Babile, Benishangul-Gumuz and Gambella, respectively. However, a relatively higher proportion of Pfmdr1-N86 allele (77.3–100%) were maintained in all sites. The observed high level of the mutant Pfcrt-76T allele in P. vivax co-endemic sites might require that utilization of CQ needs to be re-evaluated in settings co-endemic for the two species. A country-wide assessment is recommended to clarify the implication of the observed level of variation in drug resistance markers on the efficacy of AL-based treatment against uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria.

Background8-Aminoquinolines such as primaquine clear mature Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes that are responsible for transmission from human to mosquitoes and bring radical cure in Plasmodium vivax by clearing dormant liver stages. Deployment of primaquine is thus of relevance for malaria elimination efforts but challenged by the widespread prevalence of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (G6PDd) in endemic countries since primaquine in G6PDd individuals may lead to acute haemolysis. In this study, the prevalence of G6PDd was investigated in different settings in Ethiopia using phenotyping and genotyping approaches.MethodsCommunity and school based cross-sectional surveys were conducted from October to December 2016 in four administrative regions (Gambela, Benishangul Gumuz, Oromia, and Amhara) in Ethiopia. Finger prick blood samples were collected for G6PD enzyme activity using the CareStart™ G6PD screening test and genotyping of 36 selected single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in the G6PD gene and its flanking regions.ResultsOverall, the prevalence of phenotypic G6PDd was 1.4% (22/1609). For the first time in the Ethiopian population, the African variant (A−) was detected in 3.5% (7/199) of the limited set of genotyped samples, which were all phenotypically normal. Interestingly, all of these individuals had a variation at the rs2515904 locus. Strong geographical variation was observed for both phenotypic and genotypic G6PDd; three-quarters of the phenotypically G6PDd individuals were detected in Gambela.ConclusionA very low prevalence of G6PDd was detected in the present study populations. The presence of the A− variant alongside other G6PD mutants and the patchy distribution of G6PDd indicate that larger studies specifically designed to unravel the distribution of G6PDd at small geographical scale may be needed to tailor malaria elimination efforts in Ethiopia to the local context.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12936-018-2437-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background As 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. Method: A 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. Results In 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. Conclusions Conventional 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.

Background Following successful malaria control during the last decade, Ethiopia instituted a stepwise malaria elimination strategy in selected low-transmission areas. Methods Cross-sectional surveys were conducted in Babile district, Oromia, Ethiopia from July to November 2017 to evaluate malaria infection status using microscopy and nested polymerase chain reaction (nPCR) and serological markers of exposure targeting Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax apical membrane antigen-1 (AMA-1). Results Parasite prevalence was 1.2% (14/1135) and 5.1% (58/1143) for P. falciparum and 0.4% (5/1135) and 3.6% (41/1143) for P. vivax by microscopy and nPCR, respectively. Antibody prevalence was associated with current infection by nPCR for both P. falciparum (p<0.001) and P. vivax (p=0.014) and showed an age-dependent increase (p<0.001, for both species). Seroconversion curves indicated a decline in malaria exposure 15 y prior to sampling for P. falciparum and 11.5 y prior to sampling for P. vivax , broadly following malaria incidence data from district health offices, with higher antibody titres in adults than children for both species. Conclusions Malaria transmission declined substantially in the region with continuing heterogeneous but measurable local transmission, arguing in favour of continued and tailored control efforts to accelerate the progress towards elimination efforts.

The distribution of malaria infections is heterogeneous in space and time, especially in low transmission settings. Understanding this clustering may allow identification and targeting of pockets of transmission. In Adama district, Ethiopia, Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax malaria patients and controls were examined, together with household members and immediate neighbors. Rapid diagnostic test and quantitative PCR (qPCR) were used for the detection of infections that were genetically characterized by a panel of microsatellite loci for P. falciparum (26) and P. vivax (11), respectively. Individuals living in households of clinical P. falciparum patients were more likely to have qPCR detected P. falciparum infections (22.0%, 9/41) compared to individuals in control households (8.7%, 37/426; odds ratio, 2.9; 95% confidence interval, 1.3–6.4; P = .007). Genetically related P. falciparum, but not P. vivax infections showed strong clustering within households. Genotyping revealed a marked temporal cluster of P. falciparum infections, almost exclusively comprised of clinical cases. These findings uncover previously unappreciated transmission dynamics and support a rational approach to reactive case detection strategies for P. falciparum in Ethiopia.

Background: Mosquito-feeding assays that assess transmission of Plasmodium from man-to-mosquito typically use laboratory mosquito colonies. The microbiome and genetic background of local mosquitoes may be different and influence Plasmodium transmission efficiency. In order to interpret transmission studies to the local epidemiology, it is therefore crucial to understand the relationship between infectivity in laboratory-adapted and local mosquitoes. Methods: We assessed infectivity of Plasmodium vivax-infected patients from Adama, Ethiopia, using laboratoryadapted (colony) and wild-caught (wild) mosquitoes raised from larval collections in paired feeding experiments. Feeding assays used 4-6 day-old female Anopheles arabiensis mosquitoes after starvation for 12 h (colony) and 18 h (wild). Oocyst development was assessed microscopically 7 days post-feeding. Wild mosquitoes were identified morphologically and confirmed by genotyping. Asexual parasites and gametocytes were quantified in donor blood by microscopy. Results: In 36 paired experiments (25 P. vivax infections and 11 co-infections with P. falciparum), feeding efficiency was higher in colony (median: 62.5%; interquartile range, IQR: 47.0-79.0%) compared to wild mosquitoes (median: 27.8%; IQR: 17.0-38.0%; Z = 5.02; P < 0.001). Plasmodium vivax from infectious individuals (51.6%, 16/31) infected a median of 55.0% (IQR: 6.7-85.7%; range: 5.5-96.7%; n = 14) of the colony and 52.7% (IQR: 20.0-80.0%; range: 3.2-95.0%; n = 14) of the wild mosquitoes. A strong association (ρ (16) = 0.819; P < 0.001) was observed between the proportion of infected wild and colony mosquitoes. A positive association was detected between microscopically detected gametocytes and the proportion of infected colony (ρ (31) = 0.452; P = 0.011) and wild (ρ (31) = 0.386; P = 0.032) mosquitoes.