Control Strategies to Counter Malaria Transmission: Facing Future Challenges for Global Health

A special issue of Infectious Disease Reports (ISSN 2036-7449).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2023) | Viewed by 3211

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mathematics, College of Arts and Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA
Interests: applied mathematics; mathematical modeling; mathematical biology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The number of malaria deaths has been declining, but the disease still claimed over 400,000 lives, of which an estimated 67% were of children under age 5 years, per the 2019 WHO malaria report, disproportionately affecting sub–Saharan Africa. Additionally, an estimated 229 million cases worldwide were reported, a slight increase from the 228 million cases reported in 2018. Thus, control measures aimed at reducing disease burden and morbidity, with a long-term goal aiming towards potential eradication, require strategies that embodies a holistic look at disease transmission dynamics, accounting for (i) mosquito (agent that transmits the disease from one human to another) behavioral and physiological patterns and the factors essential for a successful human–mosquito interaction and mosquito survival; (ii) the parasite dynamics taking into account factors that enable their success in both humans and mosquitoes and their ability to evade the human immune response; (iii) the human behavioral dynamics and actions that can either enhance and/or enable or inhibit a successful transmission and hence control. In addition, challenges such as insecticide resistance, drug resistance, and shifts in climatic patterns, and their effects on mosquito abundance and malaria dynamics need to be considered in diverse malaria regions.

Prof. Dr. Miranda I. Teboh-Ewungkem
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Infectious Disease Reports is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • malaria
  • mosquito dynamics
  • in-human-host parasite dynamics
  • in-mosquito vector parasite dynamic
  • antimalarial resistance
  • insecticide resistance
  • human behavioral dynamics
  • climate effects
  • mosquito abundance

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

12 pages, 897 KiB  
Article
The Impact of Submicroscopic Parasitemia on Malaria Rapid Diagnosis in Northeastern Tanzania, an Area with Diverse Transmission Patterns
by Robert Diotrephes Kaaya, Johnson Matowo, Debora Kajeguka, Filemoni Tenu, Boniface Shirima, Franklin Mosha and Reginald Kavishe
Infect. Dis. Rep. 2022, 14(6), 798-809; https://doi.org/10.3390/idr14060082 - 25 Oct 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2538
Abstract
Global malaria epidemiology has changed in the last decade with a substantial increase in cases and deaths being recorded. Tanzania accounts for about 4% of all cases and deaths reported in recent years. Several factors contribute to the resurgence of malaria, parasite resistance [...] Read more.
Global malaria epidemiology has changed in the last decade with a substantial increase in cases and deaths being recorded. Tanzania accounts for about 4% of all cases and deaths reported in recent years. Several factors contribute to the resurgence of malaria, parasite resistance to antimalarials and mosquito resistance to insecticides being at the top of the list. The presence of sub-microscopic infections poses a significant challenge to malaria rapid diagnostic tests (mRDT). Our cross-sectional surveys in Handeni and Moshi, Tanzania assessed the effect of low parasite density on mRDT. Handeni had higher malaria prevalence by mRDT (39.6%), light microscopy (LM) (16.9%) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (18.5%), compared to Moshi with prevalence of 0.2%, 1.3% and 2.3%, respectively. A significant difference (p ˂ 0.001) in malaria prevalence by mRDT, LM and nested PCR was found among age groups. In comparison to all other groups, school-age children (5–15 years) had the highest prevalence of malaria. Our results show that mRDT may miss up to 6% of cases of malaria mainly due to low-density parasitemia when compared to LM and PCR. Routinely used mRDT will likely miss the sub-microscopic parasitemia which will ultimately contribute to the spread of malaria and hinder efforts of elimination. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop