Plasmodium falciparum and P. malariae epidemiology in a West African village

Transmission of Plasmodium falciparum and P. malariae was studied in a village in Burkina Faso. Consecutive captures of mosquitos were organized twice a month over a year and the species of the mosquitos identified. Also, the prevalences and densities of Plasmodium spp. were determined every 2 months in a sample of children who lived in the village. Anopheles gambiae, A. funestus, and A. nili were the local vectors, but only the first two played a predominant role in both P. falciparum and P. malariae transmission. The parasitological sporozoite index (SI) was 4.48% for A. gambiae and 4.22% for A. funestus. The immunological SIs were higher: 5.82% of A. gambiae were infected with P. falciparum and only 0.16% with P. malariae; the corresponding proportions for A. funestus were 6.45% and 0.41%. Transmission of Plasmodium spp. by A. gambiae was important during the rainy season (July-October) and by A. funestus at the beginning of the dry season (September-November). Each child in the study village could receive about 396 P. falciparum-infected bites per year but only 22 of P. malariae. The P. falciparum parasite indices were maximum during the middle of the rainy season (August), while those for P. malariae reached a peak during the dry season (February).