Malaria transmission-blocking activity in experimental infections of Anopheles gambiae from naturally infected Plasmodium falciparum gametocyte carriers

Experimental infections of anopheline mosquitoes were carried out with Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes from 65 naturally infected patients in Cameroon. A comparison was made between infections with blood containing autologous plasma and blood in which the plasma was replaced with plasma from a donor without previous malaria exposure. A lower infection rate was observed in 50 of 65 autologous plasma samples. Transmission was significantly blocked in 3 infections. This indicates that, in a population living in an area endemic for malaria, blood plasma factor(s) can reduce the transmission capacity of gametocyte carriers to mosquitoes.