Additional burden of asymptomatic and sub-patent malaria infections during low transmission season in forested tribal villages in Chhattisgarh, India

Abstract Background The burden of sub-patent malaria is difficult to recognize in low endemic areas due to limitation of diagnostic tools, and techniques. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a molecular based technique, is one of the key methods for detection of low parasite density infections. The stu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Malaria Journal
Main Authors: Mehul Kumar Chourasia, Kamaraju Raghavendra, Rajendra M. Bhatt, Dipak Kumar Swain, Hemraj M. Meshram, Jayant K. Meshram, Shrity Suman, Vinita Dubey, Gyanendra Singh, Kona Madhavinadha Prasad, Immo Kleinschmidt
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: BMC 2017
Subjects:
Malaria
Asymptomatic
Sub-patent
PCR
Chhattisgarh
India
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine
RC955-962
Infectious and parasitic diseases
RC109-216
Arctic
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-017-1968-8
https://doaj.org/article/cc4e5d556fa34143810797a76a115138
Description
Summary:Abstract Background The burden of sub-patent malaria is difficult to recognize in low endemic areas due to limitation of diagnostic tools, and techniques. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a molecular based technique, is one of the key methods for detection of low parasite density infections. The study objective was to assess the additional burden of asymptomatic and sub-patent malaria infection among tribal populations inhabiting three endemic villages in Keshkal sub-district, Chhattisgarh, India. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in March–June 2016, during the low transmission season, to measure and compare prevalence of malaria infection using three diagnostics: rapid diagnostic test, microscopy and nested-PCR. Results Out of 437 individuals enrolled in the study, 103 (23.6%) were malaria positive by PCR and/or microscopy of whom 89.3% were Plasmodium falciparum cases, 77.7% were afebrile and 35.9% had sub-patent infections. Conclusions A substantial number of asymptomatic and sub-patent malaria infections were identified in the survey. Hence, strategies for identifying and reducing the hidden burden of asymptomatic and sub-patent infections should focus on forest rural tribal areas using more sensitive molecular diagnostic methods to curtail malaria transmission.

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