# Establishing the Feasibility of using daily Dried Blood Spots (DBS) to study the Natural History of Low-density Asymptomatic Malaria Infection to Inform Malaria Elimination

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2020 · $224,897

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
There are a significant number of low-density Plasmodium infections in endemic populations, and the
proportion of this type of infection appears to increase with decreasing transmission intensity. However, most
studies to date have assessed these infections at a single time point or at infrequent time points, which offers
little to no information on the dynamics of these infections and their possible contribution to malaria
transmission. Recent data suggest that asymptomatic parasite densities may be much more dynamic than
previously known. The goal of this project is to demonstrate the feasibility and quality of daily dried blood spot
(DBS) sampling in order to quantify parasite and gametocyte density kinetics of low-density asymptomatic
Plasmodium falciparum infections to better understand their possible contribution to malaria transmission by
studying the natural history of such infections in a population experiencing intermediate transmission. We will
measure the proportion of subjects who successfully collect daily DBS over a 28-day period, and quantify the
quality of the samples collected over time. Ultrasensitive quantitative reverse transcription PCR for P.
falciparum 18S rRNA and gametocyte mRNA will be combined to cost-effectively identify infected participants
and then deconvolute daily samples to illustrate the parasite density kinetics. If successful, the results from
this study will offer a technique to further study the dynamics of low-density parasite carriage and be
generalizable to other malaria-endemic countries confronting the public health problem of asymptomatic
malaria for malaria control and elimination.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9974963
- **Project number:** 1R21AI146763-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Sean C Murphy
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $224,897
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-03-01 → 2022-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9974963

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9974963, Establishing the Feasibility of using daily Dried Blood Spots (DBS) to study the Natural History of Low-density Asymptomatic Malaria Infection to Inform Malaria Elimination (1R21AI146763-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9974963. Licensed CC0.

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