Safety and Efficacy of Incorporating Actellic 300 CS into Soil Wall Plaster for Control of Malaria Vectors in Rural Northeastern Uganda.

Indoor residual spraying (IRS) and the use of insecticide-treated bednets for malaria vector control have contributed substantially to a reduction in malaria disease burden. However, these control tools have important shortcomings including being donor-dependent, expensive, and often failing because of insufficient uptake. We assessed the safety and efficacy of a user-friendly, locally tailored malaria vector control approach dubbed "Hut Decoration for Malaria Control" (HD4MC) based on the incorporation of a WHO-approved insecticide, Actellic 300 CS, into a customary hut decoration practice in rural Uganda where millions of the most vulnerable and malaria-prone populations live in mud-walled huts.

Assessing the daily natural history of asymptomatic Plasmodium infections in adults and older children in Katakwi, Uganda: a longitudinal cohort study.

Background: Low-density asymptomatic Plasmodium infections are prevalent in endemic areas, but little is known about their natural history. The trajectories of these infections and their propensity to fluctuate to undetectable densities can affect detection in clinical trials and field studies. We aimed to classify the natural history of these infections in a high transmission area over 29 days.

Rethinking detection of pre-existing and intervening infections in malaria clinical trials.

Pre-existing and intervening low-density infections complicate the conduct of malaria clinical trials. These infections confound infection detection endpoints, and their immunological effects may detract from intended vaccine-induced immune responses. Historically, these infections were often unrecognized since infrequent and often analytically insensitive parasitological testing was performed before and during trials.

Feasibility of community at-home dried blood spot collection combined with pooled reverse transcription PCR as a viable and convenient method for malaria epidemiology studies.

Background: Many Plasmodium infections in endemic regions exist at densities below the limit of detection of standard diagnostic tools. These infections threaten control efforts and may impact vaccine and therapeutic drug studies. Simple, cost-effective methods are needed to study the natural history of asymptomatic submicroscopic parasitaemia.

Association of Stress, Glucocorticoid Receptor, and FK506 Binding Protein Gene Polymorphisms With Internalizing Disorders Among HIV-Infected Children and Adolescents From Kampala and Masaka Districts-Uganda.

Children and adolescents living with human immunodeficiency virus (CA-HIV) suffer a considerable burden of internalizing disorders (IDs; depressive and anxiety disorders). Environmental and genetic factors have been reported to influence the vulnerability to IDs in western settings; however, their role among African populations remains inadequately explored. We investigated the individual and interactive effects of stress and single-nucleotide polymorphisms within the FK506 binding protein 5 (rs1360780) and glucocorticoid receptor (rs10482605) genes on ID status in a cohort of CA-HIV in Uganda.

Differential pre-pandemic breast milk IgA reactivity against SARS-CoV-2 and circulating human coronaviruses in Ugandan and American mothers.

Objective: Uganda has registered fewer coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and deaths per capita than Western countries. The lower numbers of cases and deaths might be due to pre-existing cross-immunity induced by circulating common cold human coronaviruses (HCoVs) before the COVID-19 pandemic. To investigate pre-existing mucosal antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of COVID-19, a comparison was performed of IgA reactivity to SARS-CoV-2 and HCoVs in milk from mothers collected in 2018.

Mice Pups Breastfed by Foster Mothers Whose Breast Milk Contains Plasmodium falciparum Recombinant SE36 Antigen Develop Specific Antibodies.

Intranasal instillation of SE36, a malaria vaccine candidate antigen, in lactating BALB/c strain (derived from the Bagg and albino laboratory inbred mice) female mice resulted in the appearance of the antigen in breast milk as demonstrated by sandwich ELISA and Western blot. Pups born of immunologically naive mice and breastfed on lactating foster mothers exposed intranasally to SE36 developed IgG anti-SE36 antibodies. These data demonstrate that maternal immunization in mice by this route in lactating mothers can result in active immunization of offspring via ingestion of breast milk containing antigen.

Using the Ultrasensitive Alere Plasmodium falciparum Malaria Ag HRP-2 Rapid Diagnostic Test in the Field and Clinic in Northeastern Uganda.

The ultrasensitive Alere Malaria Ag histidine-rich protein 2 rapid diagnostic test (Alere uRDT, Suwon City, South Korea) is a new diagnostic tool which is more expensive than other malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) routinely used in Ugandan clinics. The manufacturer recommends testing samples within 2 days and scoring results after 20 minutes, which may be impractical in high-volume resource-poor clinics. We compared testing by the Alere Ag rapid diagnostic test (uRDT), CareStart RDT, microscopy, and an ultrasensitive I8S rRNA quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) using survey and clinical samples.

Molecular Characterization of from Human and Animal Origins in Uganda.

Sporadic outbreaks with varying clinical presentations have been on the rise in various parts of Uganda. The sources of outbreaks and factors underlying the different clinical manifestation are curtailed by paucity of information on genotypes and the associated virulence genes. This study reports molecular diversity of and their genetic virulence profiles among human and animal isolates.

Association of naturally acquired IgG antibodies against Plasmodium falciparum serine repeat antigen-5 with reduced placental parasitemia and normal birth weight in pregnant Ugandan women: a pilot study.

Plasmodium falciparum infection during pregnancy contributes substantially to malaria burden in both mothers and offspring. Analysis of naturally acquired immune responses that confer protection against parasitemia and clinical disease is important to guide vaccine evaluation as well as identify immune correlates. Unfortunately, few studies have addressed the relationship between immune responses to malaria vaccine candidate antigens and protection against adverse effects on pregnant women and newborn birth weight.