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Age- and species-specific duration of infection in asymptomatic malaria infections in Papua New Guinea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 October 2000

M. C. BRUCE ,
C. A. DONNELLY ,
M. PACKER ,
M. LAGOG ,
N. GIBSON ,
A. NARARA ,
D. WALLIKER ,
M. P. ALPERS  and
K. P. DAY
M. C. BRUCE
Affiliation:
Wellcome Trust Centre for the Epidemiology of Infectious Disease, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3FY
C. A. DONNELLY
Affiliation:
Wellcome Trust Centre for the Epidemiology of Infectious Disease, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3FY
M. PACKER
Affiliation:
Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, P.O. Box 378, Madang, Papua New Guinea
M. LAGOG
Affiliation:
Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, P.O. Box 378, Madang, Papua New Guinea
N. GIBSON
Affiliation:
Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, P.O. Box 378, Madang, Papua New Guinea
A. NARARA
Affiliation:
Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, P.O. Box 378, Madang, Papua New Guinea
D. WALLIKER
Affiliation:
Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3JN
M. P. ALPERS
Affiliation:
Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, P.O. Box 378, Madang, Papua New Guinea
K. P. DAY
Affiliation:
Wellcome Trust Centre for the Epidemiology of Infectious Disease, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3FY
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Abstract

The burden and duration of asymptomatic malaria infections were measured in residents of the malaria endemic village of Gonoa, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea. Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax and P. malariae infections in people aged 4 years to adulthood were compared. Frequent sampling at 3-day intervals for up to 61 days allowed assessment of individual episodes of infection. Statistical assessment of P. falciparum detection revealed a periodicity consistent with synchronous replication of this species over periods up to 27 days. The duration of P. falciparum episodes was longer across all age groups than that of P. vivax and P. malariae. A trend for decreasing duration with age was also noted in data from each species. This was most prominent in P. falciparum infections: median duration in 4-year-olds was > 48 days compared with a median between 9 and 15 days in older children and adults. The results are consistent with the slow acquisition of immunity to antigenically diverse Plasmodium populations and suggest a faster rate of acquisition to P. vivax and P. malariae than to P. falciparum.

Keywords

Plasmodium falciparumPlasmodium vivaxPlasmodium malariaeasymptomaticage-specific durationspecies-specific duration
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 121 , Issue 3 , September 2000 , pp. 247 - 256
Copyright
2000 Cambridge University Press

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