Spatial variation of malaria incidence in young children from a geographically homogeneous area with high endemicity.

Background: In sub-Saharan Africa, malaria is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among young children. Detailed knowledge of spatial variation of malaria epidemiology and associated risk factors is important for planning and evaluating malaria-control measures.

Methods: The spatial variation of malaria incidences and socioeconomic factors were assessed over 21 months, from January 2003 to September 2005, in 535 children from 9 villages of a small rural area with high Plasmodium falciparum transmission in Ghana.

Seasonal variation and high multiplicity of first Plasmodium falciparum infections in children from a holoendemic area in Ghana, West Africa.

Objective: To assess the prevalence and multiplicity of Plasmodium falciparum infections in Ghanaian infants.

Method: In an epidemiological study in an area holoendemic for malaria in Ghana, the prevalence and multiplicity of P. falciparum infections (MOI) were assessed in 1069 three month-old infants by typing of the genes encoding the merozoite surface proteins 1 and 2 (msp-1, msp-2) over a recruitment period of one year.