Tropical Disease: A Collection of Articles

The articles below have been selected by eLife editors to give a flavour of the breadth of research on tropical diseases published by the journal. More articles can be found on our subject pages for Epidemiology and Global Health and Microbiology and Infectious Disease.

Collection

1. 1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease
   2. Medicine

   A randomized feasibility trial comparing four antimalarial drug regimens to induce Plasmodium falciparum gametocytemia in the controlled human malaria infection model

   Isaie J Reuling, Lisanne A van de Schans ... Teun Bousema

   Controlled human malaria infection model allows the study of gametocyte biology and dynamics providing novel insights and tools in malaria transmission and elimination efforts.
2. 1. Epidemiology and Global Health

   Variation in natural exposure to anopheles mosquitoes and its effects on malaria transmission

   Wamdaogo M Guelbéogo, Bronner Pamplona Gonçalves ... Chris Drakeley

   Heterogeneity in exposure to malaria vectors, including sporozoite-infected mosquitoes, contributes to the variation in human infection risk and amplifies the local transmission potential.
3. 1. Epidemiology and Global Health
   2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

   Epidemiological and ecological determinants of Zika virus transmission in an urban setting

   José Lourenço, Maricelia Maia de Lima ... Mario Recker

   An ento-epidemiological model reveals that what made the Zika virus a public health problem in Feira de Santana, Brazil, was a surprisingly high attack rate coupled with a low risk of Microcephaly per challenged pregnancy.
4. 1. Ecology
   2. Epidemiology and Global Health

   Using mobile phones as acoustic sensors for high-throughput mosquito surveillance

   Haripriya Mukundarajan, Felix Jan Hein Hol ... Manu Prakash

   Mobile phones can accurately capture sound recordings from mosquito wingbeats with species-specific frequencies, together with metadata about the recording time, location and conditions, to enable rapid low-cost mosquito surveillance using a citizen-science approach.
5. 1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

   Plasmodium P36 determines host cell receptor usage during sporozoite invasion

   Giulia Manzoni, Carine Marinach ... Olivier Silvie

   Host CD81 and Scavenger Receptor BI operate independently to mediate invasion of hepatocytes by different species of Plasmodium sporozoites, which use the parasite protein P36 as a key determinant of the entry route.
6. 1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease
   2. Cell Biology

   The Plasmodium falciparum rhoptry protein RhopH3 plays essential roles in host cell invasion and nutrient uptake

   Emma S Sherling, Ellen Knuepfer ... Christiaan van Ooij

   The rhoptry protein RhopH3 is crucial for the invasion and growth of the malaria parasite and disruption of it provides insight into the binding of the parasite to the host red blood cell and into the formation of new import pathways.
7. 1. Cell Biology
   2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

   Plasmodium falciparum parasites deploy RhopH2 into the host erythrocyte to obtain nutrients, grow and replicate

   Natalie A Counihan, Scott A Chisholm ... Tania F de Koning-Ward

   Plasmodium parasites secrete RhopH2 from the rhoptry organelle into their host red blood cell to facilitate the uptake of essential nutrients required for parasite replication and survival.
8. 1. Cell Biology
   2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

   An essential dual-function complex mediates erythrocyte invasion and channel-mediated nutrient uptake in malaria parasites

   Daisuke Ito, Marc A Schureck, Sanjay A Desai

   Gene knockdowns reveal that the conserved RhopH protein complex functions in both host cell invasion and channel-mediated nutrient uptake in malaria.
9. 1. Epidemiology and Global Health
   2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

   Mapping global environmental suitability for Zika virus

   Jane P Messina, Moritz UG Kraemer ... Simon I Hay

   A global map of environmental suitability for Zika virus and the estimated population living at potential risk can help refine public health guidelines, travel advisories and intervention strategies at a crucial time in the global emergence of this arbovirus.
10. 1. Epidemiology and Global Health

    The impact of pyrethroid resistance on the efficacy and effectiveness of bednets for malaria control in Africa

    Thomas S Churcher, Natalie Lissenden ... Hilary Ranson

    Mosquitoes with high levels of pyrethroid resistance reduce the ability of bednets to protect those using them and the wider community, which is predicted to substantially increase malaria cases.
11. 1. Epidemiology and Global Health
    2. Evolutionary Biology

    Using evolution to generate sustainable malaria control with spatial repellents

    Penelope Anne Lynch, Mike Boots

    The evolution of insecticide-avoidance behaviour can be used to generate new spatial repellents to keep malaria vectors out of homes.
12. 1. Epidemiology and Global Health
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Genomic epidemiology of artemisinin resistant malaria

    MalariaGEN Plasmodium falciparum Community Project

    Plasmodium falciparum kelch13 mutations that cause artemisinin resistant malaria in Southeast Asia show markedly different patterns of evolutionary selection in Africa.
13. 1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Longitudinal analysis of Plasmodium sporozoite motility in the dermis reveals component of blood vessel recognition

    Christine S Hopp, Kevin Chiou ... Photini Sinnis

    Malaria parasites enter the host via the skin, where they are inoculated by an infected mosquito as it probes for blood: the inoculation site is a bottleneck for the parasite and the only time when the parasite is extracellular for more than a few minutes, thus possibly presenting the best opportunity for antibody-mediated inhibition of infection.
14. 1. Epidemiology and Global Health

    Coverage and system efficiencies of insecticide-treated nets in Africa from 2000 to 2017

    Samir Bhatt, Daniel J Weiss ... Peter W Gething

    Insecticide-treated net requirements for Africa have been underestimated, but mitigating for inefficiencies in net distributions can produce a cost effective path to universal coverage.
15. 1. Medicine
    2. Epidemiology and Global Health

    Mapping residual transmission for malaria elimination

    Robert C Reiner Jr, Arnaud Le Menach ... David L Smith

    A fine-grain map of residual transmission and importation in Swaziland shows where to target malaria elimination efforts.
16. 1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Deconvoluting heme biosynthesis to target blood-stage malaria parasites

    Paul A Sigala, Jan R Crowley ... Daniel E Goldberg

    Insights into the basic metabolic architecture and adaptations of malaria parasites for growth within human erythrocytes exemplify how incisive knowledge of biochemical pathways and mechanisms may be leveraged to develop new therapies.
17. 1. Immunology and Inflammation
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Malaria-associated atypical memory B cells exhibit markedly reduced B cell receptor signaling and effector function

    Silvia Portugal, Christopher M Tipton ... Peter D Crompton

    Atypical memory B cells (MBCs) appear to differentiate from classical MBCs during chronic exposure to the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, and may interfere with the acquisition of immunity to the disease.
18. 1. Epidemiology and Global Health

    Large-scale whole genome sequencing of M. tuberculosis provides insights into transmission in a high prevalence area

    JA Guerra-Assunção, AC Crampin ... JR Glynn

    A study of tuberculosis cases in the Karonga district of Malawi reveals that the main lineages of M. tuberculosis differ in their transmission patterns and virulence.
19. 1. Immunology and Inflammation
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Blood-stage immunity to Plasmodium chabaudi malaria following chemoprophylaxis and sporozoite immunization

    Wiebke Nahrendorf, Philip J Spence ... Jean Langhorne

    A novel mouse model of immunization against Plasmodium chabaudi involving infectious mosquito bites and drug-treatment elicits protection against blood-stage malaria parasites, and shows that protection is not necessarily life cycle stage-specific.
20. 1. Epidemiology and Global Health
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Mapping the zoonotic niche of Ebola virus disease in Africa

    David M Pigott, Nick Golding ... Simon I Hay

    Understanding where future Ebola virus outbreaks may start and the changing nature of the populations living in these places is of critical importance in helping to prepare for future outbreaks.
21. 1. Epidemiology and Global Health

    Vitamin A supplements, routine immunization, and the subsequent risk of Plasmodium infection among children under 5 years in sub-Saharan Africa

    Maria-Graciela Hollm-Delgado, Frédéric B Piel ... Robert E Black

    An analysis of national survey data shows that vitamin A might protect against malaria infection, an effect potentially modified by seasonality, and that no routine vaccinations were linked to parasitemia, though BCG vaccination was associated with PfHRP-2 antigenemia.
22. 1. Epidemiology and Global Health
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Global distribution maps of the leishmaniases

    David M Pigott, Samir Bhatt ... Simon I Hay

    Maps defining environmental risk of the leishmaniases provide insights into the ecology of these diseases and identify regions to target public health measures and inform future burden estimates.
23. 1. Epidemiology and Global Health
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Salmonella Typhi and Salmonella Paratyphi A elaborate distinct systemic metabolite signatures during enteric fever

    Elin Näsström, Nga Tran Vu Thieu ... Henrik Antti

    Metabolite analysis of plasma from enteric fever patients define signals of organism specific host–pathogen interactions and provides opportunities for new diagnostics.
24. 1. Epidemiology and Global Health
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    A micro-epidemiological analysis of febrile malaria in Coastal Kenya showing hotspots within hotspots

    Philip Bejon, Thomas N Williams ... Steffen Borrmann

    Malaria 'hotspots' can be identified that range in size from a few homesteads to a village, and it will be necessary to eliminate hotspots at varying scales as we progress towards eliminating malaria.
25. 1. Evolutionary Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Integrating influenza antigenic dynamics with molecular evolution

    Trevor Bedford, Marc A Suchard ... Andrew Rambaut

    Combined antigenic and genetic analysis shows that different strains of the human influenza virus display dramatically different rates of antigenic drift, and that these differences have a significant impact on the number of new infections in each flu season.