Investigating mosquito net durability for malaria control in Tanzania - attrition, bioefficacy, chemistry, degradation and insecticide resistance... (Publications)
(LLINs) are one of the major malaria vector control tools, with most countries adopting free or subsidised universal coverage campaigns of populations at-risk from malaria. It is essential to understand [...] data sets to provide GIS maps for use in health surveillance and decision making by the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP). DISCUSSION: The data will be of importance to policy makers and vector control [...] for the maintenance of high and cost-effective coverage and to maximise...
Improving health worker adherence to malaria treatment guidelines in Papua New Guinea: feasibility and acceptability of a text message reminder... (Publications)
whether a text message reminder service designed to support health worker adherence to a revised malaria treatment protocol is feasible and acceptable in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The study took place in [...] resources. In conclusion, a text message reminder service to support health worker adherence to the new malaria treatment protocol is feasible and acceptable in PNG. A rigorous pragmatic, effectiveness trial would
Potential causes and consequences of behavioural resilience and resistance in malaria vector populations: a mathematical modelling analysis (Publications)
evade fatal exposure to insecticidal nets and sprays represents the primary obstacle to eliminating malaria. However, it remains unclear which behaviours are most important for buffering mosquito and parasite
Infectivity of symptomatic malaria patients to <em>Anopheles farauti</em> colony mosquitoes in Papua New Guinea (Publications)
to mosquitoes is an understudied bottleneck in the transmission of malaria. Direct membrane feeding assays (DMFA) allow detailed malaria transmission studies from humans to mosquitoes. Especially for Plasmodium [...] were performed with venous blood collected from rapid diagnostic test (RDT) positive symptomatic malaria patients and subsequently analysed by light microscopy and quantitative real time polymerase chain
Emulator-based Bayesian optimization for efficient multi-objective calibration of an individual-based model of malaria (Publications)
framework employing Gaussian process or machine learning emulator functions to calibrate a complex malaria transmission simulator. We demonstrate our approach by optimizing over a high-dimensional parameter [...] a portfolio of multiple fitting objectives built from datasets capturing the natural history of malaria transmission and disease progression. Our approach quickly outperforms previous calibrations, yielding
The 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase 1 is an essential upstream activator of protein kinase A in malaria parasites (Publications)
t protein kinase A (PKA) signalling is essential for the proliferation of Plasmodium falciparum malaria blood stage parasites. The mechanisms regulating the activity of the catalytic subunit PfPKAc, however [...] function has not been investigated in gametocytes, the sexual blood stage forms that are essential for malaria transmission. By studying a conditional PfPKAc knockdown (cKD) mutant, we confirm the essential role
Methods and indicators for measuring patterns of human exposure to malaria vectors (Publications)
BACKGROUND: Effective targeting and evaluation of interventions that protect against adult malaria vectors requires an understanding of how gaps in personal protection arise. An improved understanding [...] collected and used consistently, this information can contribute to an improved understanding of how malaria transmission persists in the context of current intervention tools, how exposure patterns may change
Malaria infection prevalence and sensitivity of reactive case detection in Zanzibar (Publications)
BACKGROUND: Reactive case detection (RCD) is a commonly used strategy for malaria surveillance and response in elimination settings. Many approaches to RCD assume detectable infections are clustered within [...] household and up to 9 additional neighboring households. RESULTS: Of 12,487 participants tested by malaria rapid diagnostic test (RDT), 3.2% of those residing in index households and 0.4% of those residing [...] Sensitivity of RDT to detect qPCR-detectable infections was 34% (95%CI:...
Speech and language sequelae of severe malaria in Kenyan children (Publications)
impairments following severe malaria in Kenyan children. RESEARCH DESIGN: Cohort study comparing the prevalence of impairments in children exposed or unexposed to severe malaria. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: The [...] study recruited 25 children who had previously been admitted to hospital with severe falciparum malaria and 27 unexposed to the disease. Assessments of comprehension, syntax, lexical semantics, higher [...] at 8-9 years of age, at least 2 years after admission to hospital in children...