Malaria epidemiology, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency and human settlement in the Vanuatu Archipelago

Characteristic Age Distribution of Plasmodium vivax Infections after Malaria Elimination on Aneityum Island, Vanuatu

“…High rates of infections with mixed parasite clones were observed in P. vivax cases from islands with continuous malaria transmission (6), in sharp contrast with the near-complete absence of mixed infections in 140 P. falciparum cases previously reported for Pfmsp1 antigen alleles on these islands (42). Furthermore, P. vivax antigen haplotypes were quite diverse on islands with continuous malaria transmission.…”

“…The PCR-positive malaria infections detected in the visitors to Aneityum in August 2000 indicated a high potential for malaria reintroduction due to human movement. These cases originated from various islands (see Table S5 in the supplemental material) and roughly reflected the geographical patterns of malaria prevalence observed in these islands (6). For example, the 2 PCR-positive infections detected in Aneityum islanders during August 2000 support the idea that malaria parasites brought to the island by visitors could have triggered the 2002 epidemic.…”

“…Vanuatu consists of 68 islands in the Southwest Pacific with a high linguistic diversity. Despite different waves of human colonization, unstable malaria transmission has continued probably since the first human settlement 4,000 years ago (6). Aneityum, the southernmost island in Vanuatu, is located at the southeast edge of the range of malaria transmission in the Pacific.…”

The Global Public Health Significance of Plasmodium vivax

“…The map was derived from a synthesis of historical records and malariometric indices of all four human malaria parasites: disease and vector presence and absence records; spleen, parasite, sporozoite and biting rates; sickle cell incidence; and others (Hay et al, 2004;Gething et al, 2010b). Lysenko interpolated the data globally to determine the distribution of malaria at the peak of its historic distribution (circa 1900) using expert opinion, temperature ranges and rainfall isohyets (Lysenko and Semashko, 1968;Lysenko and Beljaev, 1969;Kaneko et al, 1998). …”

Historical review: Does falciparum malaria destroy isolated tribal populations?

“…Solomon Islands) have coevolved with falciparum malaria with the isolated populations developing a wide range of polymorphisms such as Southeast Asia ovalocytosis [9]. In Vanuatu on the edge of Melanesia, G6PD forms a northsouth gradient reflecting the decreasing malaria evolutionary pressure [10]. So for some tribal groups that have long co-existed with malaria, falciparum extracts its mortality toll from the young but does not cause destabilizing population losses.…”