1. Seroepidemiology of helminths and the association with severe malaria among infants and young children in Tanzania.
- Author
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Kwan JL, Seitz AE, Fried M, Lee KL, Metenou S, Morrison R, Kabyemela E, Nutman TB, Prevots DR, and Duffy PE
- Subjects
- Animals, Antigens, Helminth immunology, Child, Child, Preschool, Cohort Studies, Coinfection epidemiology, Cytokines blood, Female, Humans, Infant, Malaria blood, Malaria immunology, Malaria parasitology, Male, Prevalence, Risk Factors, Seroepidemiologic Studies, Severity of Illness Index, Strongyloides stercoralis immunology, Tanzania epidemiology, Wuchereria bancrofti isolation & purification, Antibodies, Helminth blood, Brugia malayi immunology, Filariasis epidemiology, Malaria epidemiology, Wuchereria bancrofti immunology
- Abstract
The disease burden of Wuchereria bancrofti and Plasmodium falciparum malaria is high, particularly in Africa, and co-infection is common. However, the effects of filarial infection on the risk of severe malaria are unknown. We used the remaining serum samples from a large cohort study in Muheza, Tanzania to describe vector-borne filarial sero-reactivity among young children and to identify associations between exposure to filarial parasites and subsequent severe malaria infections. We identified positive filarial antibody responses (as well as positive antibody responses to Strongyloides stercoralis) among infants as young as six months. In addition, we found a significant association between filarial seropositivity at six months of age and subsequent severe malaria. Specifically, infants who developed severe malaria by one year of age were 3.9 times more likely (OR = 3.9, 95% CI: 1.2, 13.0) to have been seropositive for filarial antigen at six months of age compared with infants who did not develop severe malaria.
- Published
- 2018
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