Co-occurrence of Overweight, Stunting, and Anemia among Adolescents (10-19 Years) in Tanzania Mainland: A School-Based Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Evidence on double and triple burdens of malnutrition among adolescents is an essential key to informing policy design, implementation, and tracking progress of adolescent nutritional programs. Tanzania has a scarcity of studies on the double and triple burden of malnutrition among adolescents.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the co-occurrence of malnutrition (overweight, stunting, and anemia) among adolescents (10-19 y) in mainland Tanzania.

Author Correction: The temporal dynamics and infectiousness of subpatent Plasmodium falciparum infections in relation to parasite density.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

The temporal dynamics and infectiousness of subpatent Plasmodium falciparum infections in relation to parasite density.

Malaria infections occurring below the limit of detection of standard diagnostics are common in all endemic settings. However, key questions remain surrounding their contribution to sustaining transmission and whether they need to be detected and targeted to achieve malaria elimination. In this study we analyse a range of malaria datasets to quantify the density, detectability, course of infection and infectiousness of subpatent infections.

Malaria prevalence in asymptomatic and symptomatic children in Kiwangwa, Bagamoyo district, Tanzania.

Background: Malaria prevalence continues to decline across sub-Saharan Africa as a result of various intervention strategies. However, the diseases still poses a public health concern in the region. While symptomatic malaria is recognized and treated, asymptomatic infections become increasingly important for interrupting transmission.

Ultra-sensitive detection of Plasmodium falciparum by amplification of multi-copy subtelomeric targets.

Background: Planning and evaluating malaria control strategies relies on accurate definition of parasite prevalence in the population. A large proportion of asymptomatic parasite infections can only be identified by surveillance with molecular methods, yet these infections also contribute to onward transmission to mosquitoes. The sensitivity of molecular detection by PCR is limited by the abundance of the target sequence in a DNA sample; thus, detection becomes imperfect at low densities.

Comparison of detection methods to estimate asexual Plasmodium falciparum parasite prevalence and gametocyte carriage in a community survey in Tanzania.

Background: The use of molecular techniques to detect malaria parasites has been advocated to improve the accuracy of parasite prevalence estimates, especially in moderate to low endemic settings. Molecular work is time-consuming and costly, thus the effective gains of this technique need to be carefully evaluated. Light microscopy (LM) and rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) are commonly used to detect malaria infection in resource constrained areas, but their limited sensitivity results in underestimation of the proportion of people infected with Plasmodium falciparum.

Effectiveness of intermittent preventive treatment with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine during pregnancy on placental malaria, maternal anaemia and birthweight in areas with high and low malaria transmission intensity in Tanzania.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of IPTp in two areas with different malaria transmission intensities.

Methods: Prospective observational study recruiting pregnant women in two health facilities in areas with high and low malaria transmission intensities. A structured questionnaire was used for interview.

Population pharmacokinetics and clinical response for artemether-lumefantrine in pregnant and nonpregnant women with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Tanzania.

Artemether-lumefantrine (AL) is the first-line treatment for uncomplicated malaria in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Its efficacy during pregnancy has recently been challenged due to altered pharmacokinetic (PK) properties in this vulnerable group. The aim of this study was to determine the PK profile of AL in pregnant and nonpregnant women and assess their therapeutic outcome.

Plasmodium falciparum msp1, msp2 and glurp allele frequency and diversity in sub-Saharan Africa.

Background: The efficacy of anti-malarial drugs is assessed over a period of 28-63 days (depending on the drugs' residence time) following initiation of treatment in order to capture late failures. However, prolonged follow-up increases the likelihood of new infections depending on transmission intensity. Therefore, molecular genotyping of highly polymorphic regions of Plasmodium falciparum msp1, msp2 and glurp loci is usually carried out to distinguish recrudescence (true failures) from new infections.