51. Monitoring parasite diversity for malaria elimination in sub-Saharan Africa
- Author
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Lucas Amenga-Etego, Dominic P. Kwiatkowski, Antoinette Tshefu-Kitoto, Victoria Cornelius, Anita Ghansah, Voahangy Andrianaranjaka, Yavo William, Edwin Kamau, Oumou Maïga-Ascofaré, Kimberly J. Johnson, Paulina Tindana, Dieudonné Mumba, Deus S. Ishengoma, Abdoulaye Djimde, Alfred Amambua-Ngwa, Tobias O. Apinjoh, Ben Andagalu, Milijaona Randrianarivelojosia, Marielle K. Bouyou-Akotet, and Lemu Golassa
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Anopheles gambiae ,Plasmodium falciparum ,Population ,Drug Resistance ,Drug resistance ,Plasmodium ,Article ,Antimalarials ,Anopheles ,parasitic diseases ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Disease Eradication ,Malaria, Falciparum ,Socioeconomics ,education ,Africa South of the Sahara ,education.field_of_study ,Multidisciplinary ,biology ,Ecology ,Public health ,Genetic Variation ,biology.organism_classification ,medicine.disease ,Artemisinins ,Epidemiological Monitoring ,Malaria - Abstract
The African continent continues to bear the greatest burden of malaria and the greatest diversity of parasites, mosquito vectors, and human victims. The evolutionary plasticity of malaria parasites and their vectors is a major obstacle to eliminating the disease. Of current concern is the recently reported emergence of resistance to the front-line drug, artemisinin, in South-East Asia in Plasmodium falciparum , which calls for preemptive surveillance of the African parasite population for genetic markers of emerging drug resistance. Here we describe the Plasmodium Diversity Network Africa (PDNA), which has been established across 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa to ensure that African scientists are enabled to work together and to play a key role in the global effort for tracking and responding to this public health threat.
- Published
- 2014