Mosquito-borne diseases remain a significant public health problem in tropical regions. Housing improvements such as screening of doors and windows may be effective in reducing disease transmission, but the impact remains unclear.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) contribute 14% to global maternal mortality. HDP encompasses several subcategories, including gestational hypertension (GH) and pre-eclampsia. These two conditions are both characterised by a rise in blood pressure, with an onset from 20 weeks of gestation. They also share some common risk factors. The current definition of pre-eclampsia includes raised blood pressure in the absence of proteinuria, thus presenting the two conditions as a spectrum. In this article, we refer to both conditions as gestational hypertension, which is our outcome of interest. The aetiology of GH is not yet clearly understood. Observational studies have suggested that malaria may be associated with GH. However, the evidence from these small studies has been inconclusive. Having a better understanding of the association between malaria and GH may help inform prevention strategies to reduce maternal and infant mortality and morbidity.
In 2018, tafenoquine was approved for malaria chemoprophylaxis. We evaluated all available data on the safety and efficacy of tafenoquine chemoprophylaxis.
Delay in receiving treatment for uncomplicated malaria (UM) is often reported to increase the risk of developing severe malaria (SM), but access to treatment remains low in most high-burden areas. Understanding the contribution of treatment delay on progression to severe disease is critical to determine how quickly patients need to receive treatment and to quantify the impact of widely implemented treatment interventions, such as ‘test-and-treat’ policies administered by community health workers (CHWs). We conducted a pooled individual-participant meta-analysis to estimate the association between treatment delay and presenting with SM.
Plasmodium spp. and hepatitis B virus (HBV) are among the most common infectious diseases in underdeveloped countries. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of Plasmodium spp. and HBV co-infection in people living in endemic areas of both diseases and to assess the risk factors related to this co-infection.
Co-infection with both Plasmodium and dengue virus (DENV) infectious species could have serious and fatal outcomes if left undiagnosed and without timely treatment. The present study aimed to determine the pooled prevalence estimate of severe malaria among patients with co-infection, the risk of severe diseases due to co-infection, and to describe the complications of severe malaria and severe dengue among patients with co-infection.
The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to pool the prevalence of congenital malaria.
In order to attain the objectives set out in the global technical strategy against malaria 2016–2030, it is important to have accurate epidemiological data on malaria in all age categories, including those which are often neglected because of an apparent low burden of disease. The current systematic review with meta-analysis synthesizes the epidemiology of clinical congenital and neonatal malaria in endemic areas.
Severe complications among patients with Plasmodium malariae infection are rare. This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrating the global prevalence and mortality of severe P. malariae infection in humans.
Malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are widely used to detect malaria parasites among patients who suspected malaria infections in malaria-endemic areas where microscopy is unavailable. Nevertheless, little is known about the performance of RDTs in detecting Plasmodium mixed infections. The present study aimed to evaluate the discordant results between RDTs and microscopy/polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in detecting Plasmodium mixed infections.
