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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 74(5), 2006, pp. 724-729
Copyright © 2006 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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PIGMENTED MONOCYTES ARE NEGATIVE CORRELATES OF PROTECTION AGAINST SEVERE AND COMPLICATED MALARIA IN UGANDAN CHILDREN

GODFREY MUJUZI, BETTY MAGAMBO, BRENDA OKECH, AND THOMAS G. EGWANG*
Med Biotech Laboratories, Kampala, Uganda

Pigmented leukocytes are reported to be associated with severe malaria (SM). Blood smears from a case-control study of SM conducted in Apac Hospital in Northern Uganda were examined for pigmented leukocytes to investigate their association with measures of disease and clinical immunity in children less than 5 years old. Pigmented leukocytes, predominated by monocytes, were significantly greater in number in SM by comparison with uncomplicated malaria (UM). SM children with no pigmented leukocytes had significantly elevated hemoglobin, packed cell volumes, and titers of IgG anti-SERA5 by comparison with SM children with pigmented leukocytes. These differences were not observed in UM. A Spearman rank correlation analysis showed, in addition, a negative but weak correlation between pigmented monocytes and titers of IgG anti-Plasmodium falciparum lysate and IgG anti-EBA-175 in both SM and UM children. Thus, numbers of pigmented monocytes might be negative correlates of clinical immunity in a region of holoendemic malaria.

Received May 19, 2005. Accepted for publication December 7, 2005.

Acknowledgments: We are grateful to the mothers and children of Apac District as well as the staff at Apac Hospital who made this study possible and to Alex Ogwal for technical assistance in microscopy and Halima Nanyonjo for assisting in data entry.

Financial support: Thomas G. Egwang is an International Research Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. These studies were also supported by the UNDP/World Bank WHO Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR Project 990368).

* Address correspondence to Thomas G. Egwang, Med Biotech Laboratories, PO Box 9364, Kampala, Uganda. E-mail: tgegwang{at}mblab.org

Authors’ addresses: Godfrey Mujuzi, Med Biotech Laboratories, PO Box 9364, Kampala, Uganda. Betty Magambo, Med Biotech Laboratories, PO Box 9364, Kampala, Uganda. Brenda Okech, Med Biotech Laboratories, PO Box 9364, Kampala, Uganda. Thomas G. Egwang, Med Biotech Laboratories, PO Box 9364, Kampala, Uganda, E-mail: tgegwang{at}mblab.org.






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Copyright © 2006 by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.