Molecular Surveillance of Malaria Parasite in Remote Communities in the Peruvian Amazon
Project Summary
Malaria is an endemic disease in the Peruvian Amazon and is concentrated mainly in the Loreto region. Plasmodium vivax (80%) is the predominant species in that area, followed by P. falciparum (20%). The national malaria elimination program in Peru reports how malaria is now concentrated in hard-to-reach indigenous communities, which represent the last challenge for malaria elimination. Although they contribute up to 75% of the number of cases, information of malaria transmission in these areas is scarce, and interventions from MINSA rarely reach them. Therefore, malaria research should be focused on native communities in order to adequately combat the disease.
In this sense, my thesis proposes to deploy novel Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) platforms (Pv & Pf AmpliSeq Peru) for molecular surveillance of P. vivax and P. falciparum to investigate the transmission dynamics/population genetics, molecular drug resistance markers and pfhrp2/3 deletions (related to diagnostic failure with rapid diagnostic test - RDT) in native remote communities of the Peruvian Amazon, focused on Nueva Jerusalén (community with persistent malaria transmission, ~50 km from the Ecuador border). This work will be the first report about malaria genomic surveillance in Peruvian indigenous communities, and will highlighting the importance of performing regular surveillance in these communities to promptly propose specific intervention strategies and adapt the malaria elimination policies in Peru.