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Household clustering of asymptomatic malaria infections in Xepon district, Savannakhet province, Lao PDR

Overview of attention for article published in Malaria Journal, October 2016
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Title
Household clustering of asymptomatic malaria infections in Xepon district, Savannakhet province, Lao PDR
Published in
Malaria Journal, October 2016
DOI 10.1186/s12936-016-1552-7
Pubmed ID
Authors

Tiengkham Pongvongsa, Daisuke Nonaka, Moritoshi Iwagami, Masami Nakatsu, Panom Phongmany, Futoshi Nishimoto, Jun Kobayashi, Bouasy Hongvanthon, Paul T. Brey, Kazuhiko Moji, Toshihiro Mita, Shigeyuki Kano

Abstract

In the Lao PDR, malaria morbidity and mortality have remarkably decreased over the past decade. However, asymptomatic infections in rural villages contribute to the on-going local transmission. The primary objective of this study was to explore the characteristics of infections in a malaria-endemic district of the Lao PDR. The specific objectives were to investigate the prevalence and species of malaria parasites using molecular methods and to assess individual and household parasite levels and the characteristics associated with malaria infection. The study population included 870 participants from 236 households in 10 villages of the Xepon district. Interviews, blood examinations and body temperature measurements were conducted between August and September 2013. A multilevel logistic regression model, with adjustment for clustering effects, was used to assess the association between predictor variables and an outcome variable (malaria infection status as principally determined by PCR). The predictive factors included individual-level factors (age, gender, past fever episode, and forest activity during night time) and household-level factors (household member size, household bed net usage/density and a household with one other malaria-infected member). Fifty-two participants (including 26 children) tested positive (positive rate: 6.0 %): Plasmodium falciparum mono-infection was the most common infection (n = 41, 78.8 %), followed by P. falciparum and Plasmodium vivax mixed infections (n = 9, 17.3 %). The majority of infected participants (n = 42, 80.8 %) had no fever episodes in the two previous weeks or a measurable fever (>37 °C) at the time of survey. Living in a household with one other malaria-infected member significantly increased the odds of infection (odds ratio 24.33, 95 % confidence interval 10.15-58.32). Among the 40 households that had at least one infected member, nine households were responsible for 40.4 % of the total infections. Plasmodium vivax was detected more frequently than it was reported from the district hospital. Most infections were asymptomatic and sub-microscopic and were highly clustered within households. To further eliminate malaria in Xepon and other similar settings in the country, the National Malaria Control Programme should consider household-based strategies, including reactive case detection targeting the household members of index cases.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 57 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 57 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 11 19%
Student > Ph. D. Student 9 16%
Student > Master 8 14%
Lecturer 4 7%
Other 4 7%
Other 11 19%
Unknown 10 18%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 15 26%
Nursing and Health Professions 5 9%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 5 9%
Social Sciences 4 7%
Immunology and Microbiology 3 5%
Other 6 11%
Unknown 19 33%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 23 May 2017.
All research outputs
#18,548,834
of 22,973,051 outputs
Outputs from Malaria Journal
#5,062
of 5,588 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#239,929
of 316,842 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Malaria Journal
#90
of 104 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,973,051 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 11th percentile – i.e., 11% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,588 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.8. This one is in the 4th percentile – i.e., 4% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 316,842 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 13th percentile – i.e., 13% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 104 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 6th percentile – i.e., 6% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.