Case management is essential for malaria control, not only to prevent malaria-related mortality and morbidity, but also to decrease the pool of circulating
gametocytes (the sexual stage of the malaria parasite).
The detection of malaria
gametocytes or malaria-specific immune responses in human populations has been shown to be more effective at low transmission intensities.
falciparum
gametocytes 0-6 mo 1/734 (0.1) 1-9 y 2/768 (0.3) 10-15 y 7/768 (0.9) PCR Plasmodium spp.
Figure 3 shows the time to
gametocyte clearance plot against time after initiation of treatment.
Effects of antifolates: cotrimoxazole and pyrimethamine-sulphadoxine on
gametocytes in children with acute, symptomatic, uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria.
In symptomatic persons,
gametocyte prevalence, assessed by microscopy, was low in all years (2.8%, 2.9%, 0.8%, 0.8%, and 0% in Kipsamoite and 0.4%, 1%, 0%, 0%, and 0% in Kapsisiywa during 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, respectively).
Submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum
gametocyte carriage is common in an area of low and seasonal transmission in Tanzania.
Antibodies generated in the host as a result of vaccination may kill the
gametocyte within the host or get ingested with the
gametocytes and kill the gametes when they emerge from the human host red cell in the mosquito midgut.
Leucocytozoon species frequently demonstrate a higher pathogenicity than Haemoproteus species, as the
gametocyte phase can occur within either erythrocytes or leucocytes, depending on the host and the species.
Mosquito feeding assays to determine the infectiousness of naturally infected Plasmodium falciparum
gametocyte carriers.
Simpson et al., "Risk factors for
gametocyte carriage in uncomplicated falciparum malaria," The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, vol.
Within the red blood cells, the merozoites mature either into uninucleate
gametocyte or into erythrocytic stage schizont containing 10-36 merozoites [39].
The diagnosis of Plasmodium species infection was made by either with detection of
gametocyte of PF and PV from Giemsa-stained peripheral blood smear or rapid diagnostic test (RDT).
