Impact of seasonal variations in Plasmodium falciparum malaria transmission on the surveillance of pfhrp2 gene deletions

  1. Oliver John Watson  Is a corresponding author
  2. Robert Verity
  3. Azra C Ghani
  4. Tini Garske
  5. Jane Cunningham
  6. Antoinette Tshefu
  7. Melchior K Mwandagalirwa
  8. Steven R Meshnick
  9. Jonathan B Parr
  10. Hannah C Slater
  1. Imperial College London, United Kingdom
  2. World Health Organisation, Switzerland
  3. University of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
  4. University of North Carolina, United States

Abstract

Ten countries have reported pfhrp2/pfhrp3 gene deletions since the first observation of pfhrp2-deleted parasites in 2012. In a previous study (Watson et al., 2017) we characterised the drivers selecting for pfhrp2/3 deletions, and mapped the regions in Africa with the greatest selection pressure. In February 2018, the World Health Organization issued guidance on investigating suspected false-negative rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) due to pfhrp2/3 deletions. However, no guidance is provided regarding the timing of investigations. Failure to consider seasonal variation could cause premature decisions to switch to alternative RDTs. In response, we have extended our methods and predict that the prevalence of false-negative RDTs due to pfhrp2/3 deletions is highest when sampling from younger individuals during the beginning of the rainy season. We conclude by producing a map of the regions impacted by seasonal fluctuations in pfhrp2/3 deletions and a database identifying optimum sampling intervals to support malaria control programmes.

Data availability

All data generated are provided within the online database, hosted through a shiny application at https://ojwatson.shinyapps.io/seasonal_hrp2/. The raw data for the application is available within the github repository at https://github.com/OJWatson/hrp2malaRia.

The following previously published data sets were used

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Oliver John Watson

    MRC Center for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
    For correspondence
    o.watson15@imperial.ac.uk
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-2374-0741
  2. Robert Verity

    MRC Center for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Azra C Ghani

    MRC Center for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Tini Garske

    MRC Center for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Jane Cunningham

    Global Malaria Programme, World Health Organisation, Geneva, Switzerland
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Antoinette Tshefu

    School of Public Health, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Melchior K Mwandagalirwa

    School of Public Health, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Steven R Meshnick

    4.Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School for Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  9. Jonathan B Parr

    Division of Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  10. Hannah C Slater

    1.MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Funding

Wellcome (109312/Z/15/Z)

  • Oliver John Watson

Medical Research Council (MR/N01507X/1)

  • Robert Verity

Department for International Development

  • Azra C Ghani

Medical Research Council

  • Tini Garske

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (R01AI132547)

  • Steven R Meshnick
  • Jonathan B Parr

American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene-Burroughs Wellcome Fund

  • Jonathan B Parr

Imperial College London

  • Hannah C Slater

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Copyright

© 2019, Watson et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Oliver John Watson
  2. Robert Verity
  3. Azra C Ghani
  4. Tini Garske
  5. Jane Cunningham
  6. Antoinette Tshefu
  7. Melchior K Mwandagalirwa
  8. Steven R Meshnick
  9. Jonathan B Parr
  10. Hannah C Slater
(2019)
Impact of seasonal variations in Plasmodium falciparum malaria transmission on the surveillance of pfhrp2 gene deletions
eLife 8:e40339.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.40339

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https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.40339