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AGE-DEPENDENT ACQUISITION OF PROTECTIVE IMMUNITY TO MALARIA IN RIVERINE POPULATIONS OF THE AMAZON BASIN OF BRAZIL
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Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Departamento de Medicina Tropical. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
Universidade de São Paulo. Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas. Departamento de Parasitologia. São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
Superintendência de Controle de Endemias. Laboratório de Sorologia. São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
Superintendência de Controle de Endemias. Laboratório de Sorologia. São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Departamento de Medicina Tropical. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
Universidade de São Paulo. Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas. Departamento de Parasitologia. São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
Superintendência de Controle de Endemias. Laboratório de Sorologia. São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
Superintendência de Controle de Endemias. Laboratório de Sorologia. São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Departamento de Medicina Tropical. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
Abstract
Five community-based cross-sectional surveys of malaria morbidity and associated risk factors in remote
riverine populations in northwestern Brazil showed average parasite rates of 4.2% (thick-smear microscopy) and 14.4%
(polymerase chain reaction [PCR]) in the overall population, with a spleen rate of 13.9% among children 2–9 years of age.
Plasmodium vivax was 2.8 times more prevalent than P. falciparum , with rare instances of P. malariae and mixed-species
infections confirmed by PCR; 9.6% of asymptomatic subjects had parasitemias detected by PCR. Low-grade parasitemia
detected by PCR only was a risk factor for anemia, after controlling for age and other covariates. Although clinical and
subclinical infections occurred in all age groups, the risk of infection and disease decreased significantly with increasing
age, after adjustment for several covariates in multilevel logistic regression models. These findings suggest that the continuous
exposure to hypo- or mesoendemic malaria may induce significant anti-parasite and anti-disease immunity in
native Amazonians.
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