title: High levels of asymptomatic and subpatent Plasmodium falciparum parasite carriage at health facilities in an area of heterogeneous malaria transmission intensity in the Kenyan highlands.
abstract: In endemic settings, health facility surveys provide a convenient approach to estimating malaria transmission intensity. Typically, testing for malaria at facilities is performed on symptomatic attendees, but asymptomatic infections comprise a considerable proportion of the parasite reservoir. We sampled individuals attending five health facilities in the western Kenyan highlands. Malaria prevalence by rapid diagnostic test (RDT) was 8.6-32.9% in the health facilities. Of all polymerase chain reaction-positive participants, 46.4% (95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 42.6-50.2%) of participants had infections that were RDT-negative and asymptomatic, and 55.9% of those infections consisted of multiple parasite clones as assessed by merozoite surface protein-2 genotyping. Subpatent infections were more common in individuals reporting the use of non-artemisinin-based antimalarials in the 2 weeks preceding the survey (odds ratio = 2.49, 95% CI = 1.04-5.92) compared with individuals not reporting previous use of antimalarials. We observed a large and genetically complex pool of subpatent parasitemia in the Kenya highlands that must be considered in malaria interventions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Infection, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Department of Disease Control, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Kenya Medical Research Institute, Centre for Global Health Research, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya; Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland; Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Radboud University, Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Gillian.Stresman@lshtm.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Gillian H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Stresman
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Infection, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Department of Disease Control, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Kenya Medical Research Institute, Centre for Global Health Research, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya; Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland; Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Radboud University, Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jennifer C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Stevenson
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Infection, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Department of Disease Control, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Kenya Medical Research Institute, Centre for Global Health Research, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya; Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland; Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Radboud University, Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Nnenna
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ngwu
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Infection, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Department of Disease Control, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Kenya Medical Research Institute, Centre for Global Health Research, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya; Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland; Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Radboud University, Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marube
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Infection, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Department of Disease Control, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Kenya Medical Research Institute, Centre for Global Health Research, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya; Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland; Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Radboud University, Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Chrispin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Owaga
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Infection, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Department of Disease Control, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Kenya Medical Research Institute, Centre for Global Health Research, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya; Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland; Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Radboud University, Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Drakeley
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Infection, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Department of Disease Control, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Kenya Medical Research Institute, Centre for Global Health Research, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya; Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland; Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Radboud University, Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Teun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bousema
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Infection, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Department of Disease Control, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Kenya Medical Research Institute, Centre for Global Health Research, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya; Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland; Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Radboud University, Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cox
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002353:Carrier State; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007630:Kenya / Q000453:epidemiology; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D008297:Male; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction