Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Demystifying In Vivo Bioluminescence Imaging of a Chagas Disease Mouse Model for Drug Efficacy Studies
Published on: May 31, 2024
Parasite prevalence: a static measure of dynamic infections
Wendy Prudhomme O'Meara1, William E Collins, F Ellis McKenzie
1Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, 16 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. prudhomw@mail.nih.gov
Abstract:
The intensity of malaria transmission is often measured by looking at the fraction of individuals infected at a given point in time. However, malaria infections in individuals are dynamic, leading to uncertainty about whether a cross-sectional survey that represents a single snapshot in time is a useful representation of a temporally complex process. In this analysis, we examine the impact of parasite density fluctuations on the measurement of parasite prevalence. Our results show that parasite prevalence may be underestimated by 20% or more, depending on the sensitivity of parasite detection.
Related Concept Videos
Microbial Interactions: Parasitism
Prevalence and Incidence
Prevalence indicates the proportion of individuals in a population who have a specific disease or health condition at a...
Malaria
Infectious Diseases and Their Occurrence
Toxoplasmosis
Diversity of Protists I

