Dynamics of the human infectious reservoir for malaria determined by mosquito feeding assays and ultrasensitive malaria diagnosis in Burkina Faso

Abstract

Background Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes are essential for malaria transmission. Malaria control measures that aim at reducing transmission require an accurate characterization of the human infectious reservoir. Methods We longitudinally determined human infectiousness to mosquitoes and P. falciparum carriage by an ultrasensitive RNA-based diagnostics in 130 randomly selected inhabitants of an endemic area. Results At least 1 mosquito was infected by 32.6% (100 of 307) of the blood samples; in total, 7.6% of mosquitoes (916 of 12 079) were infected. The proportion of infectious individuals and infected mosquitoes were negatively associated with age and positively with asexual parasites (P