Malaria remains endemic in 17 countries in the Americas, where 723,000 cases were reported in 2019. The majority (> 90%) of the regional malaria burden is found within the Amazon Basin, which includes nine countries and territories in South America. Locally generated evidence is critical to provide information to public health decision makers upon which the design of efficient and regionally directed malaria control and elimination programs can be built. Plasmodium vivax is the predominant malaria parasite in the Amazon Basin. This parasite species appears to be more resilient to malaria control strategies worldwide. Asymptomatic Plasmodium infections constitute a potentially infectious reservoir that is typically missed by routine microscopy-based surveillance and often remains untreated. The primary Amazonian malaria vector, Nyssorhynchus (formerly Anopheles) darlingi, has changed its behavior to feed and rest predominantly outdoors, reducing the efficiency of core vector control measures such as indoor residual spraying and distribution of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets. We review public health implications of recent field-based research carried out by the Amazonia International Center of Excellence in Malaria Research in Peru and Brazil. We discuss the relative role of traditional and novel tools and strategies for better malaria control and elimination across the Amazon, including improved diagnostic methods, new anti-relapse medicines, and biological larvicides, and emphasize the need to integrate research and public health policymaking.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.21-1272 | DOI Listing |
Lancet Infect Dis
January 2025
Department of Parasitology, Research and Training for Health Science, Université Iba Der Thiam de Thiès, Thiès, Senegal.
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View Article and Find Full Text PDFMalar J
January 2025
Family and Community Health, Fred N. Binka School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Hohoe, Ghana.
Background: Malaria is a disease deeply rooted in poverty. Malaria in pregnant women leads to severe complications, including low birth weight and neonatal mortality, which can adversely affect both mother and child. This study aimed to identify the factors associated with malaria in pregnancy among women attending antenatal care (ANC) clinics in three districts of the Ashanti Region, Ghana.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
January 2025
Indian Institute of Public Health Shillong, Shillong, Meghalaya, India.
The effective prevention of many infectious and non-infectious diseases relies on people concurrently adopting multiple prevention behaviors. Individual characteristics, opinion leaders, and social networks have been found to explain why people take up specific prevention behaviors. However, it remains challenging to understand how these factors shape multiple interdependent behaviors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Commun
January 2025
Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA.
Plasmodium, the causative agents of malaria, are obtained by mosquitoes from an infected human. Following Plasmodium acquisition by Anopheles gambiae, mosquito gamma-interferon-inducible lysosomal thiol reductase (mosGILT) plays a critical role in its subsequent sporogony in the mosquito. A critical location for this development is the midgut, a tissue we show expresses mosGILT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Health Serv Res
January 2025
Innovations & Grants, Stop TB Partnership, Global Health Campus - Chemin du Pommier 40, Le Grand-Saconnex, 1218, Geneva, Switzerland.
Introduction: In Pakistan, almost one-third of people who develop tuberculosis (TB) are missed by the National TB Program (NTP). A considerable number of people with TB receive treatment in the private sector but remain unnotified. This study documents the outcomes of an intervention to identify people with TB through private pharmacy engagement, building on mapping TB medicine sales in Punjab Province.
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