High cases of submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum infections in a suburban population of Lagos, Nigeria
Abstract Background Asymptomatic malaria parasites are significant sources of infections for onward malaria transmission. Conventional tools for malaria diagnosis such as microscopy and rapid diagnostic test kits (RDT) have relatively low sensitivity, hence the need for alternative tools for active...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:625a438528a7411c8a63b44ed1ddaffb 2023-05-15T15:09:19+02:00 High cases of submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum infections in a suburban population of Lagos, Nigeria Florence A. Umunnakwe Emmanuel T. Idowu Olusola Ajibaye Blessed Etoketim Samuel Akindele Aminat O. Shokunbi Olubunmi A. Otubanjo Gordon A. Awandare Alfred Amambua-Ngwa Kolapo M. Oyebola 2019-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-019-3073-7 https://doaj.org/article/625a438528a7411c8a63b44ed1ddaffb EN eng BMC https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-019-3073-7 https://doaj.org/toc/1475-2875 doi:10.1186/s12936-019-3073-7 1475-2875 https://doaj.org/article/625a438528a7411c8a63b44ed1ddaffb Malaria Journal, Vol 18, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2019) Asymptomatic malaria Rapid diagnostic test Microscopy varATS Plasmodium falciparum Nigeria Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-019-3073-7 2022-12-31T15:43:16Z Abstract Background Asymptomatic malaria parasites are significant sources of infections for onward malaria transmission. Conventional tools for malaria diagnosis such as microscopy and rapid diagnostic test kits (RDT) have relatively low sensitivity, hence the need for alternative tools for active screening of such low-density infections. Methods This study tested var acidic terminal sequence-based (varATS) quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) for screening asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum infections among dwellers of a sub-urban community in Lagos, Nigeria. Clinically healthy participants were screened for malaria using microscopy, RDT and varATS qPCR techniques. Participants were stratified into three age groups: 1–5, 6–14 and > 14 years old. Results Of the 316 participants screened for asymptomatic malaria infection, 78 (24.68%) were positive by microscopy, 99 (31.33%) were positive by RDT and 112 (35.44%) by varATS qPCR. Participants aged 6–14 years had the highest prevalence of asymptomatic malaria, with geometric means of ~ 116 parasites/µL and ~ 6689 parasites/µL as detected by microscopy and varATS, respectively. Conclusion This study has revealed high prevalence of asymptomatic malaria in the study population, with varATS detecting additional sub-microscopic infections. The highest concentration of asymptomatic malaria was observed among school-age children between 6 and 14 years old. A large-scale screening to identify other potential hotspots of asymptomatic parasites in the country is recommended. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Malaria Journal 18 1 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
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English |
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Asymptomatic malaria Rapid diagnostic test Microscopy varATS Plasmodium falciparum Nigeria Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 |
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Asymptomatic malaria Rapid diagnostic test Microscopy varATS Plasmodium falciparum Nigeria Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Florence A. Umunnakwe Emmanuel T. Idowu Olusola Ajibaye Blessed Etoketim Samuel Akindele Aminat O. Shokunbi Olubunmi A. Otubanjo Gordon A. Awandare Alfred Amambua-Ngwa Kolapo M. Oyebola High cases of submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum infections in a suburban population of Lagos, Nigeria |
topic_facet |
Asymptomatic malaria Rapid diagnostic test Microscopy varATS Plasmodium falciparum Nigeria Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 |
description |
Abstract Background Asymptomatic malaria parasites are significant sources of infections for onward malaria transmission. Conventional tools for malaria diagnosis such as microscopy and rapid diagnostic test kits (RDT) have relatively low sensitivity, hence the need for alternative tools for active screening of such low-density infections. Methods This study tested var acidic terminal sequence-based (varATS) quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) for screening asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum infections among dwellers of a sub-urban community in Lagos, Nigeria. Clinically healthy participants were screened for malaria using microscopy, RDT and varATS qPCR techniques. Participants were stratified into three age groups: 1–5, 6–14 and > 14 years old. Results Of the 316 participants screened for asymptomatic malaria infection, 78 (24.68%) were positive by microscopy, 99 (31.33%) were positive by RDT and 112 (35.44%) by varATS qPCR. Participants aged 6–14 years had the highest prevalence of asymptomatic malaria, with geometric means of ~ 116 parasites/µL and ~ 6689 parasites/µL as detected by microscopy and varATS, respectively. Conclusion This study has revealed high prevalence of asymptomatic malaria in the study population, with varATS detecting additional sub-microscopic infections. The highest concentration of asymptomatic malaria was observed among school-age children between 6 and 14 years old. A large-scale screening to identify other potential hotspots of asymptomatic parasites in the country is recommended. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Florence A. Umunnakwe Emmanuel T. Idowu Olusola Ajibaye Blessed Etoketim Samuel Akindele Aminat O. Shokunbi Olubunmi A. Otubanjo Gordon A. Awandare Alfred Amambua-Ngwa Kolapo M. Oyebola |
author_facet |
Florence A. Umunnakwe Emmanuel T. Idowu Olusola Ajibaye Blessed Etoketim Samuel Akindele Aminat O. Shokunbi Olubunmi A. Otubanjo Gordon A. Awandare Alfred Amambua-Ngwa Kolapo M. Oyebola |
author_sort |
Florence A. Umunnakwe |
title |
High cases of submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum infections in a suburban population of Lagos, Nigeria |
title_short |
High cases of submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum infections in a suburban population of Lagos, Nigeria |
title_full |
High cases of submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum infections in a suburban population of Lagos, Nigeria |
title_fullStr |
High cases of submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum infections in a suburban population of Lagos, Nigeria |
title_full_unstemmed |
High cases of submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum infections in a suburban population of Lagos, Nigeria |
title_sort |
high cases of submicroscopic plasmodium falciparum infections in a suburban population of lagos, nigeria |
publisher |
BMC |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-019-3073-7 https://doaj.org/article/625a438528a7411c8a63b44ed1ddaffb |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Malaria Journal, Vol 18, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-019-3073-7 https://doaj.org/toc/1475-2875 doi:10.1186/s12936-019-3073-7 1475-2875 https://doaj.org/article/625a438528a7411c8a63b44ed1ddaffb |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-019-3073-7 |
container_title |
Malaria Journal |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766340521054175232 |