HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Bousema, J. T. Articles by Sauerwein, R. W. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Bousema, J. T. Articles by Sauerwein, R. W. Related Collections Malaria

Increased Plasmodium falciparum Gametocyte Production in Mixed Infections with P. malariae

Plasmodium falciparum and P. malariae occur endemically in many parts of Africa. Observations from malariotherapy patients suggest that co-infection with P. malariae may increase P. falciparum gametocyte production. We determined P. falciparum gametocyte prevalence and density by quantitative nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (QT-NASBA) after antimalarial treatment of Kenyan children with either P. falciparum mono-infection or P. falciparum and P. malariae mixed infection. In addition, we analyzed the relationship between mixed species infections and microscopic P. falciparum gametocyte prevalence in three datasets from previously published studies. In Kenyan children, QT-NASBA gametocyte density was increased in mixed species infections (P = 0.03). We also observed higher microscopic prevalences of P. falciparum gametocytes in mixed species infections in studies from Tanzania and Kenya (odds ratio = 2.15, 95% confidence interval = 0.99–4.65 and 2.39, 1.58–3.63) but not in a study from Nigeria. These data suggest that co-infection with P. malariae is correlated with increased P. falciparum gametocytemia.

Received May 7, 2007. Accepted for publication November 19, 2007.

Acknowledgments: We thank the community of Mbita for their cooperation; and S. Kaniaru (Kenya Medical Research Institute), G. Omweri, N. Makio, P. Sawa, B. Kapesa, K. Okoth and P. Ongele (International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology) for their work at the clinic and in the field. We also thank the Joint Malaria Programme (a collaboration between the Tanzanian National Institute for Medical Research; Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre; the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and the Centre for Medical Parasitology, University of Copenhagen) for access to the data from the Usambara Mountains.

Financial support: J. Teun Bousema is supported by The Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (W 07.05.203.00) through Poverty Related Infection Oriented Research, and Chris J. Drakeley is supported by a research fellowship in tropical medicine (#063516) from the Wellcome Trust.

^* Address correspondence to J. Teun Bousema, Department of Medical Microbiology 268, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands. E-mail: t.bousema{at}ncmls.ru.nl

Authors’ addresses: J. Teun Bousema, Theo Arens, and Robert W. Sauerwein, Department of Medical Microbiology 268, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB, The Netherlands, Telephone: 31–24–361–9515, E-mails: t.bousema{at}ncmls.ru.nl, t.arens{at}mmb.umcn.nl, and r.sauerwein{at}mmb.umcn.nl. Chris J. Drakeley and Rein Houben, Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, United Kingdom, E-mails: chris.drakeley{at}lshtm.ac.uk and rein.houben{at}lshtm.ac.uk. Petra F. Mens and Henk Schallig, KIT Biomedical Research, Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, E-mails: p.mens{at}kit.nl and h.schallig{at}kit.nl. Sabah A. Omar, Kenya Medical Research Institute, PO Box 54840, Nairobi, Kenya, E-mail: osabah{at}kemri.org. Louis C. Gouagna, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, 01 PO Box 182, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, E-mail: louis-clement.gouagna{at}ird.bf.