Thomas A Smith

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..It is proposed that the level of micro-heterogeneity can be estimated from statistical models that estimate the amount of variation in transmission most compatible with a mass-action model for the relationship of infection to exposure...

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..Their applicability to low transmission settings is unclear. Evaluations of the efficiency of different deployment strategies in diverse settings should consider uncertainties in model structure...

..This has importance for both formal modeling of malaria and for planning malaria intervention strategies in the field...

..Since 2006, a national-scale programme has promoted the use of longer-lasting insecticide treatment kits (consisting of an insecticide plus binder) co-packaged with all bed nets manufactured in the country...

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..The thinking behind malaria research and control strategies stems largely from experience gained in rural areas and needs to be adapted to the urban environment...

..gambiae s.s. is not yet available at country level to support control efforts...

..Detectability can be estimated by typing repeated samples from the same host but it has been unclear what should be the time interval between the samples and how the data should be analysed...

..Little is known about their impact on the shape of age-prevalence and incidence curves. In this study, the effects of heterogeneity in transmission, treatment-seeking and risk of co-morbidity were simulated...

..This study reports a field evaluation of the Mbita trap in a rice irrigation scheme in Kenya..

..For example a person with four malaria clones may contain both mutant and wildtype forms of a marker but it is not possible to distinguish the relative frequencies of the mutant and wildtypes i.e. 1:3, 2:2 or 3:1...

..We used Bayesian negative binomial models for spatio-temporal analysis of the relationship between annual malaria incidence and selected climatic covariates at a district level in Zimbabwe from 1988-1999...

..Behavioural adaptation by mosquitoes to increasing ITN coverage could allow vector mosquitoes to bite outside of peak sleeping hours and undermine efficacy of this key malaria prevention measure...

..Here we evaluate resulting changes in bednet coverage and malaria transmission...

..The effects of transmission reduction on mortality rates in older age groups are also uncertain. However, it is clear that reduction of exposure during infancy is not reflected in increased mortality at older ages...

..The resulting models should prove a useful tool for cross-validating biochemical approaches for estimating the sequestered load...

..There may be substantial benefits of malaria transmission reduction for older people, that have been overlooked in public health programmes and burden of disease calculations...

..This analysis confirmed that the duration of infections with parasites belonging to the MSP-2 FC27 allelic family increased with age...

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..The normal situation for P. falciparum is one in which the host is partially immune, and competition between parasite genotypes in this situation is not expected to result in selection for virulence...

..The project thus provides a general platform for comparing, fitting, and evaluating different model structures, and for quantitative prediction of effects of different interventions and integrated control programmes...

..falciparum...

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..An estimated 40 % of the population in Benin lives in urban areas. The purpose of the study was to estimate malaria endemicity and the fraction of malaria-attributable fevers in health facilities in Cotonou...

..02), with the strongest increase in very young children. Intensified efforts to control malaria can benefit from knowledge of the diversity and MOI both for assessing the endemic situation and monitoring the effects of interventions...

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..Our estimates of mutation and haplotype frequencies provide estimates of selection coefficients acting in this environment, which are key parameters for understanding the dynamics of resistance...

..Rapid urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa has a major impact on malaria epidemiology. While much is known about malaria in rural areas in Burkina Faso, the urban situation is less well understood...

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..The prevalence of malaria, its distribution in the city and the fractions of fevers attributable to malaria in the health facilities have not been previously investigated...

..An average specificity of at least 97% and the sensitivity of at least 50% were obtained. The findings suggest that the use of k'echalera would identify fewer cases of diarrhoea than a symptom-based definition in rural Bolivia...

..This analysis needs to consider a range of delivery modalities to ensure that clinical development plans can be aligned with the most appropriate deployment strategies...

..There is little data on the age dependence of tolerance in other species of human malaria...

..falciparum and P. vivax parasite clones in consecutive samples of the same patient and at investigating the impact of sampling strategies on basic epidemiological measures such as multiplicity of infection (MOI)...

..These results provide further evidence that relationships between asymptomatic malaria infections and clinical malaria change with cumulative exposure...

..Consequently, information on effects of host immune status or age on infection dynamics is fragmentary...

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..The cost-effectiveness ratio increases rapidly and approximately linearly with vaccine cost per dose. The approach can be adopted for comparative analyses of the cost effectiveness of different vaccines and other intervention strategies...

..The vaccine-induced selection pressure exerted on the parasites and its consequences for morbidity strongly argue for developing vaccines comprising conserved antigens and/or multiple components covering all important allelic types...

..It is critical to anticipate where and how it should be implemented if trials are successful. Such planning may be complicated by changing levels of malaria transmission...

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..This study provides an overview of the malaria epidemiology within an oil palm plantation in Popondetta, south-eastern Papua New Guinea, its implication for the company with its employees and their families and the potential for control...

..In Papua New Guinea (PNG), combination therapy with amodiaquine (AQ) or chloroquine (CQ) plus sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) was introduced as first-line treatment against uncomplicated malaria in 2000...

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..Identification of significant temporal and local variations in malaria endemicity is important for the design and evaluation of intervention studies, including field trials of an antimalarial vaccine...

..This weak age-dependence in clinical immunity might be a consequence of a cohort effect resulting from resurgence of the disease after the breakdown of malaria control programs in the 1980s...

..This paper critically examines the way the effect is defined, and discusses how it can be used to infer effectiveness of intervention programmes...

..We evaluated five milestones for each intervention, and assessed if the milestones were associated with beginning implementation...

..Longitudinal analyses are needed that allow for the clearance rates of the marker molecules and for variations between hosts in the history of parasitaemia...

..The approach makes more efficient use of the available data than do previous malaria mapping methods, and it produces highly plausible maps of malaria distribution...

..Because its effects on transmission are important (more so than the effects of individual protection), estimates of the lifetime of mass distribution rounds should be based on the effective length of epidemiological protection...

..When combined, synergistic but also antagonistic effects depending on the doses administered were observed, which should be elucidated in more detail in future studies...

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..Mitigation of the current burden of malaria in urban African settings, in turn, is a necessity for stimulating environmentally and socially sustainable development...

..The findings help in the understanding of infection dynamics, premunition, and development of semi-immunity in malaria...

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..There was a significant correlation between parasite density and multiplicity of infection in infants and young children (1-2 years of age) but not in older individuals...

..This suggests that, in areas of high P. falciparum endemicity, ITNs have little effect on the establishment of chronic malaria infection...

..This has important implications for our understanding of immunity against P. falciparum, its ecological niche, and the epidemiological impact of interventions against it...

..However, at points very remote from those sampled, it is important to consider prediction error...

..It is desirable to know the correct distribution because its shape profoundly influences the length of monitoring needed in an intervention programme for eliminating or reducing malaria...

..vivax. It is concluded that short-term variations in inoculation rate are not important determinants of parasite prevalence in this population...

..Results indicate that the stationarity assumption is important because it influences the significance of environmental factors and the corresponding malaria risk maps...

..Despite these problems, melarsoprol is likely to remain the drug of choice for the next decade. We therefore did a randomised trial comparing the standard treatment schedule with a new, concise regimen...

..The financial evaluation of anthelmintic interventions cannot be predicted from FEC and must necessarily rely on the direct monitoring of livestock productivity parameters...

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..The best fitting models had no age dependence in infection or clearance rates, suggesting that acquired immunity mainly affects detectability...

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..abstract:..

..To obtain valid estimates of the overall malaria burden using these methods, there remains a need for surveys to include the whole range of ages of hosts in the population and for data on seasonality patterns in confirmed case series...

..The rapid urban malaria appraisal (RUMA) methodology aims to provide a cost-effective tool to conduct rapid assessments of the malaria situation in urban sub-Saharan Africa and to improve the understanding of urban malaria epidemiology...

..This indicates that nutritional interventions in PNG should aim at promoting the consumption of such high energy and high protein foods as well as strengthening the general economic base of rural populations...

..japonicum. Attributable fraction estimates for these three schistosome species in different endemic areas would greatly aid in the assessment of the health burden of this parasite and the effectiveness of control programs...

..This work investigates the applicability of mathematical modelling of malaria transmission dynamics in Rachuonyo South, a district with low, unstable transmission in the highlands of western Kenya...

..Laboratory studies suggest that SODIS is highly efficacious in inactivating waterborne pathogens. Previous field studies provided limited evidence for its effectiveness in reducing diarrhoea...

..sinensis is confirmed, and combination chemotherapy with praziquantel produces synergistic and antagonistic effects depending on the doses administered. Further preclinical investigations are warranted...

..Covariate adjustment had considerable effects on estimated relationships between species, and confounding variables may account for many differences among reports of inter-species interactions in human malaria...

..Staphylococcus aureus (36%), Escherichia coli (5%) and enterococci (4%) were the pathogens isolated most commonly from SSIs...

..Vaccine immunogenicity was neither impaired by circulating parasites nor increased after pre-treatment with SP and pre-treatment is not advisable in future trials of malaria vaccines, at least for those including blood-stage antigens...

..As financial support, technology and distribution systems for insecticide-treated nets improve, massive reductions in malaria transmission could be realised...