# Reservoirs of transmission: Targets for Malaria Control Interventions

> **NIH NIH U19** · MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $238,714

## Abstract

Malaria in Malawi has been recalcitrant to the interventions associated with decreased incidence in some
neighboring countries. The reasons for the failure of standard prevention and control measures to reduce the
burden of malaria in Malawi remain unknown. One possible component is that current interventions aim to
control malaria disease but do not adequately target transmission reservoirs to interrupt the spread of infection
in this highly endemic setting. Characterizing transmission from humans to mosquitoes is complex. Identifying
which humans harbor gametocytes is insufficient because successful transmission involves multidimensional
relationships between human and vector behaviors, and complicated human, vector, and parasite biological
interactions. Few studies have attempted to fully describe and model the factors that contribute to human to
mosquito transmission, yet this information is essential. Our overall goal is to identify the most important
sources of malaria transmission in the human population and to apply this information to optimize the design of
new strategies to target these reservoirs. We will conduct longitudinal cohort studies including molecular
detection of gametocyte infection, entomological assessments, human behavior characterization and
membrane feeds to: 1) systematically characterize human-to-mosquito transmission patterns to identify the
important transmission reservoir group(s) for malaria in Malawi, 2) assess the impacts of current interventions
on these human reservoirs, and 3) develop analytical models using these data to design and monitor targeted
interventions to efficiently reduce transmission. Our previous work has shown that school-age children have
the highest prevalence of infection and of infections containing gametocytes, and are more available to vectors
due to relatively infrequent ITN use. We hypothesize that school-age children are the primary reservoirs of
Plasmodium transmission, that current interventions fail to adequately reach this group, and that interventions
targeting this group would considerably reduce the burden of malaria in Malawi. Better understanding of
human-to-mosquito transmission dynamics and the transmission reservoirs of Plasmodium in Malawi will
improve the design and evaluation of interventions to target the most important human reservoirs of
transmission and enhance the impact of interventions. The development of evidence-based targeted
interventions will aid Malawi and other high burden settings to tackle the challenge of persistent malaria.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10385731
- **Project number:** 5U19AI089683-13
- **Recipient organization:** MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Miriam K. Laufer
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $238,714
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2010-07-01 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10385731

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10385731, Reservoirs of transmission: Targets for Malaria Control Interventions (5U19AI089683-13). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10385731. Licensed CC0.

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