TY - JOUR
T1 - Demographical, hematological and serological risk factors for Plasmodium falciparum gametocyte carriage in a high stable transmission zone in Cameroon
AU - Essangui, Estelle
AU - Moukoko, Carole Else Eboumbou
AU - Nguedia, Niels
AU - Tchokwansi, Michele
AU - Banlanjo, Umaru
AU - Maloba, Franklin
AU - Fogang, Balotin
AU - Donkeu, Christiane
AU - Biabi, Marie
AU - Cheteug, Glwadys
AU - Kemleu, Sylvie
AU - Elanga-Ndille, Emmanuel
AU - Lehman, Léopold
AU - Ayong, Lawrence
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was funded through a Capacity Building and Training grant (G4 Award) from the Institute Pasteur International Division to LA. The funder played no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, as well as the decision to publish the obtained data.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright: © 2019 Essangui et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2019/4
Y1 - 2019/4
N2 - Presence of mature gametocyte forms of malaria parasites in peripheral blood is a key requirement for malaria transmission. Yet, studies conducted in most malaria transmission zones report the absence of gametocyte in the majority of patients. We therefore sought to determine the risk factors of both all-stage and mature gametocyte carriage in an area with high stable transmission of Plasmodium falciparum in Cameroon. Gametocyte positivity was determined using three complementary methods: thick blood smear microscopy, RT-PCR and RT-LAMP, whereas exposure to the infection was assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Of 361 malaria endemic residents randomly included in the study (mean age: 28±23 years, age range: 2–100 years, male/female sex ratio: 1.1), 87.8% were diagnosed with P. falciparum infection, of whom 45.7% presented with fever (axillary body temperature 37.5C). Mature gametocyte positivity was 1.9% by thick blood smear microscopy and 8.9% by RT-PCR targeting the mature gametocyte transcript, Pfs25. The gametocyte positivity rate was 24.1% and 36.3% by RT-PCR or RT-LAMP, respectively, when targeting the sexual stage marker, Pfs16. Multivariate analyses revealed anemia as a common independent risk factor for both mature and all-stage gametocyte carriage, whereas fever and low anti-gametocyte antibody levels were independently associated with all-stage gametocyte carriage only. Taken together, the data suggest important differences in risk factors of gametocyte carriage depending on stage analyzed, with anemia, fever and low antiplasmodial plasma antibody levels representing the major contributing risk factors.
AB - Presence of mature gametocyte forms of malaria parasites in peripheral blood is a key requirement for malaria transmission. Yet, studies conducted in most malaria transmission zones report the absence of gametocyte in the majority of patients. We therefore sought to determine the risk factors of both all-stage and mature gametocyte carriage in an area with high stable transmission of Plasmodium falciparum in Cameroon. Gametocyte positivity was determined using three complementary methods: thick blood smear microscopy, RT-PCR and RT-LAMP, whereas exposure to the infection was assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Of 361 malaria endemic residents randomly included in the study (mean age: 28±23 years, age range: 2–100 years, male/female sex ratio: 1.1), 87.8% were diagnosed with P. falciparum infection, of whom 45.7% presented with fever (axillary body temperature 37.5C). Mature gametocyte positivity was 1.9% by thick blood smear microscopy and 8.9% by RT-PCR targeting the mature gametocyte transcript, Pfs25. The gametocyte positivity rate was 24.1% and 36.3% by RT-PCR or RT-LAMP, respectively, when targeting the sexual stage marker, Pfs16. Multivariate analyses revealed anemia as a common independent risk factor for both mature and all-stage gametocyte carriage, whereas fever and low anti-gametocyte antibody levels were independently associated with all-stage gametocyte carriage only. Taken together, the data suggest important differences in risk factors of gametocyte carriage depending on stage analyzed, with anemia, fever and low antiplasmodial plasma antibody levels representing the major contributing risk factors.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0216133
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0216133
M3 - Article
C2 - 31022294
AN - SCOPUS:85064938431
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 14
JO - PLoS One
JF - PLoS One
IS - 4
M1 - e0216133
ER -