ORIGNAL ARTICLES

Performance comparison of three methods in detecting asymptomatic malaria infection on China-Myanmar border

  • Xiao-xiao WANG ,
  • Hui-hui XIAO ,
  • Fang HUANG ,
  • Shui-sen ZHOU
Expand
  • 1 National Institute of Parasite Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Chinese Center for Tropical Diseases Research; WHO Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases; National Center for international Research on Tropical Diseases, Ministry of Science and Technology; Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology, Ministry of Health, Shanghai 20025, China
    2 Zhejiang Province Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou 310051, China
    3 Changsha Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Changsha 410004, China

Received date: 2019-11-06

  Online published: 2020-05-11

Supported by

Supported by the National Major Science and Technology Project--Prevention and Treatment of AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, and Other Major Infectious Diseases(2018ZX10101002-002);National Health Commission Special Project for Lancang-Mekong Cooperation in 2017(2020399);the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai(18ZR1443400);the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases U19 project(U19AI129386)

Abstract

Objective To compare the performances of three methods in detecting asymptomatic malaria infection in residents, and assess the prevalence of asymptomatic malaria on China-Myanmar border.Methods Cross-sectional survey was carried out in Nabang town and Zhina town in Yingjiang county of Yunnan Province, China and a resettlement site in Laiza of Myanmar. Finger-prick blood samples were collected to prepare thick/thin blood smears and dried blood spots on filter paper. Malaria parasite infection was examined by light microscopy, real-time fluorescent PCR and ultrasensitive PCR (usPCR).Results A total of 387 blood samples were collected. Light microscopy found 6 participants with asymptomatic malaria infection (5 Plasmodium vivax infection and 1 P. falciparum infection), with a detection rate of 1.6%; real-time fluorescent PCR revealed 13 asymptomatic malaria infection cases (12 P. vivax infection; 1 P. falciparum infection) with a detection rate of 3.4%; and usPCR found 38 asymptomatic malaria infection cases(29 P. vivax infection and 9 P. falciparum infection) with a detection rate of 9.8%. Using light microscopy as the gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity of real-time fluorescent PCR were 98.2% and 100%, and those of usPCR were 91.6% and 100%, respectively. The usPCR results revealed that the detection rate of asymptomatic malaria infections was highest in Nabang town (17.1%, 22/129), followed by the Laiza resettlement site (10.0%, 11/110) and Zhina town (3.4%, 5/148), showing significant differences between the three sites (P < 0.05). Among the parasite species detected, P. vivax accounts for 76.3%, while P. falciparum for 23.7%. The detection rate was higher in females (10.7%, 23/215) than in males (8.7%, 15/172), but with no significant difference (P > 0.05). The age distribution showed that, the detection rate of asymptomatic infection was highest in the examinees aged 15-29 years(17.5%, 10/57), but there were no significant differences between the age groups.Conclusion Of the three methods compared for the ability in detection of asymptomatic malaria infection, the usPCR method presents higher detection rate than light microscopy and real-time fluorescent PCR. There are a certain proportion of asymptomatic malaria infection cases among the residents on China-Myanmar border.

Cite this article

Xiao-xiao WANG , Hui-hui XIAO , Fang HUANG , Shui-sen ZHOU . Performance comparison of three methods in detecting asymptomatic malaria infection on China-Myanmar border[J]. CHINESE JOURNAL OF PARASITOLOGY AND PARASITIC DISEASES, 2020 , 38(2) : 152 -158 . DOI: 10.12140/j.issn.1000-7423.2020.02.004

References

[1] Sumari D, Mwingira F, Selemani M , et al. Malaria prevalence in asymptomatic and symptomatic children in Kiwangwa, Bagamoyo district, Tanzania[J]. Malar J, 2017,16:222.
[2] Galatas B, Bassat Q, Mayor A . Malaria parasites in the asymptomatic: looking for the hay in the haystack[J]. Trends Parasitol, 2016,32(4):296-308.
[3] Bousema T, Drakeley C . Epidemiology and infectivity of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax gametocytes in relation to malaria control and elimination[J]. Clin Microbiol Rev, 2011,24(2):377-410.
[4] Shannon KL, Khan WA, Sack DA , et al. Subclinical Plasmodium falciparum infections act as year-round reservoir for malaria in the hypoendemic Chittagong Hill districts of Bangladesh[J]. Int J Infect Dis, 2016,49:161-169.
[5] Chen I, Clarke SE, Gosling R , et al. “asymptomatic” malaria: a chronic and debilitating infection that should be treated[J]. PLoS Med, 2016,13(1):e1001942.
[6] Lindblade KA, Steinhardt L, Samuels A , et al. The silent threat: asymptomatic parasitemia and malaria transmission[J]. Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther, 2013,11(6):623-639.
[7] Bell D, Fleurent AE, Hegg MC , et al. Development of new malaria diagnostics: matching performance and need[J]. Malar J, 2016,15:406.
[8] Yarosh HL, Hyatt CJ, Meda SA , et al. Relationships between reward sensitivity, risk-taking and family history of alcoholism during an interactive competitive fMRI task[J]. PLoS One, 2014,9(2):e88188.
[9] Mouatcho JC, Goldring JP . Malaria rapid diagnostic tests: challenges and prospects[J]. J Med Microbiol, 2013,62(Pt 10):1491-1505.
[10] Kamau E, Tolbert LS, Kortepeter L , et al. Development of a highly sensitive genus-specific quantitative reverse transcriptase real-time PCR assay for detection and quantitation of Plasmodium by amplifying RNA and DNA of the 18S rRNA genes[J]. J Clin Microbiol, 2011,49(8):2946-2953.
[11] Adams M, Joshi SN, Mbambo G , et al. An ultrasensitive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay to detect asymptomatic low-density Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax infections in small volume blood samples[J]. Malar J, 2015,14:520.
[12] Li M, Wang ZY, Zhang T , et al. Exploration of using one-step reverse transcription PCR in detection of four species of human malaria parasites[J]. Chin J Parasitol Parasit Dis, 2016,34(6):500-505. (in Chinese)
[12] ( 李美, 王真瑜, 张淘 , 等. 一步反转录PCR技术在检测4种人疟原虫中的初步应用[J]. 中国寄生虫学与寄生虫病杂志, 2016,34(6):500-505.)
[13] Zhao YH, Zhao Y, Lv Y , et al. Comparison of methods for detecting asymptomatic malaria infections in the China-Myanmar border area[J]. Malar J, 2017,16:159.
[14] Taylor SM, Juliano JJ, Trottman PA , et al. High-throughput pooling and real-time PCR-based strategy for malaria detection[J]. J Clin Microbiol, 2010,48(2):512-519.
[15] Zainabadi K, Adams M, Han ZY , et al. A novel method for extracting nucleic acids from dried blood spots for ultrasensitive detection of low-density Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax infections[J]. Malar J, 2017,16:377.
[16] Al-Harti SA . Assessment of three blood genomic-DNA preparation methods for malaria molecular diagnosis[J]. J Egypt Soc Parasitol, 2016,46(1):1-8.
[17] Li M, Xia ZG, Tang LH . Establishment and application of multiplex PCR system for detecting four human Plasmodium species[J]. Chin J Parasitol Parasit Dis, 2015,33(2):91-95.(in Chinese)
[17] ( 李美, 夏志贵, 汤林华 . 检测4种人体疟原虫多重PCR体系的建立和应用[J]. 中国寄生虫学与寄生虫病杂志, 2015,33(2):91-95.)
[18] Li K, Zhou SS, Huang F , et al. Research on methods to test for submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum infection[J]. J Pathog Biol, 2013,8(4):331-335. (in Chinese)
[18] ( 李轲, 周水森, 黄芳 , 等. 3种PCR方法检测低密度恶性疟原虫血症的比较研究[J]. 中国病原生物学杂志, 2013,8(4):331-335.)
[19] Murphy SC, Prentice JL, Williamson K , et al. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR for monitoring of blood-stage Plasmodium falciparum infections in malaria human challenge trials[J]. Am J Trop Med Hyg, 2012,86(3):383-394.
[20] Maeno Y, Nakazawa S ,Dao le D, et al. A dried blood sample on filter paper is suitable for detecting Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction[J]. Acta Trop, 2008,107(2):121-127.
[21] Mlambo G, Vasquez Y ,LeBlanc R, et alA filter paper method for the detection of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction[J]. Am J Trop Med Hyg, 2008,78(1):114-116.
[22] Pritsch M, Wieser A, Soederstroem V , et al. Stability of gametocyte-specific Pfs25-mRNA in dried blood spots on filter paper subjected to different storage conditions[J]. Malar J, 2012,11:138.
[23] Jones S, Sutherland CJ, Hermsen C , et al. Filter paper collection of Plasmodium falciparum mRNA for detecting low-density gametocytes[J]. Malar J, 2012,11:266.
[24] Gauffin F, Nordgren A, Barbany G , et al. Quantitation of RNA decay in dried blood spots during 20 years of storage[J]. Clin Chem Lab Med, 2009,47(12):1467-1469.
[25] Karlsson H ,Guthenberg C,von D?beln U, et al.Extraction of RNA from dried blood on filter papers after long-term storage[J]. Clin Chem, 2003,49(6 Pt 1):979-981.
[26] Basiye FL, Schoone GJ, Beld M , et al. Comparison of short-term and long-term protocols for stabilization and preservation of RNA and DNA of Leishmania, Trypanosoma, and Plasmodium[J]. Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis, 2011,69(1):66-73.
[27] Kritsiriwuthinan K, Ngrenngarmlert W . Molecular screening of Plasmodium infections among migrant workers in Thailand[J]. J Vector Borne Dis, 2011,48(4):214-218.
[28] Diallo A, Ndam NT, Moussiliou A , et al. Asymptomatic carriage of Plasmodium in urban Dakar: the risk of malaria should not be underestimated[J]. PLoS One, 2012,7(2):e31100.
[29] Huang F, Takala-Harrison S, Liu H , et al. Prevalence of clinical and subclinical Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax malaria in two remote rural communities on the Myanmar-China border[J]. Am J Trop Med Hyg, 2017,97(5):1524-1531.
[30] Zhao Y, Zeng J, Zhao YH , et al. Risk factors for asymptomatic malaria infections from seasonal cross-sectional surveys along the China-Myanmar border[J]. Malar J, 2018,17(1):247.
[31] Feng J, Zhang L, Huang F , et al. Ready for malaria elimination: zero indigenous case reported in the People’s Republic of China[J]. Malar J, 2018,17:315.
[32] Golassa L, Baliraine FN, Enweji N , et al. Microscopic and molecular evidence of the presence of asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax infections in an area with low, seasonal and unstable malaria transmission in Ethiopia[J]. BMC Infect Dis, 2015,15:310.
[33] Wang XX, Zhou SS, Huang F , et al. Review on epidemiological characterization of asymptomatic malaria infection and its risk factors[J]. Chin J Parasitol Parasit Dis, 2019,37(3):352-359. (in Chinese)
[33] ( 王笑笑, 周水森, 黄芳 , 等. 疟疾无症状感染者流行病学特征及其影响因素研究进展[J]. 中国寄生虫学与寄生虫病杂志, 2019,37(3):352-359.)
[34] Wei C, Du LF, Zhao XT , et al. Analysis of epidemic situation of malaria in Yunnan Province from 2011 to 2013[J]. Chin J Schisto Control, 2016,28(1):26-29. (in Chinese)
[34] ( 魏春, 杜龙飞, 赵晓涛 , 等. 2011-2013年云南省疟疾疫情分析[J]. 中国血吸虫病防治杂志, 2016,28(1):26-29.)
[35] Chen TM, Zhang SS, Feng J , et al. Mobile population dynamics and malaria vulnerability: a modelling study in the China-Myanmar border region of Yunnan Province, China[J]. Infect Dis Poverty, 2018,7(1):36.
[36] Zhang SS, Zhou SS, Zhou ZB , et al. Monitoring of malaria vectors at the China-Myanmar border while approaching malaria elimination[J]. Parasit Vectors, 2018,11(1):511.
Outlines

/

〈 〉