Asymptomatic Malaria Infections in an Endemic City of Honduras

Abstract

BACKGROUND:This study aimed at determining the prevalence of asymptomatic cases of malaria in Puerto Lempira, the municipality with the highest morbidity in Honduras. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Capillary blood was collected from 1,899 participants. All samples were analyzed through microscopy and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique based on the amplification of species-specific repetitive sequences. The molecular approach was more sensitive than microscopy to detect asymptomatic infections (1.1% vs. 0.16%). CONCLUSIONS: Although the prevalence of asymptomatic malaria was low in this population, new strategies such as active case detection and PCR-based surveys could become useful tools for countries aspiring to initiate the pre-elimination phase of malaria in the Americas.

Plasmodium falciparum infection status in children less than 10 years old under seasonal malaria chemoprevention and risk of clinical malaria in the Koulikoro health district, Mali

“…Our data shows that while SMC is widely implemented with signi cantly high coverage rates reported in countries like Mali, a non-negligible proportion of children receiving SMC treatment (about 11.0%) are already carrying P. falciparum without any symptoms. Studies have shown that in malaria-endemic countries, there is a high prevalence of asymptomatic carriage of P. falciparum [9,[17][18][19][20][21] and that this parasitemia remains detectable in some children despite the administration of SP plus AQ during SMC [22].…”

“…Asymptomatic carriage of parasites consists in the absence of clinical manifestations despite the presence of parasites in the blood. These individuals are very important for transmission because they constitute a reservoir of parasites [7][8][9][10][11].…”