Abstract

Madagascar has a suite of unusual features in its biogeography and climatology that I will argue provide a, perhaps unique, opportunity to study the ecology and evolution of malaria parasites. In terms of biogeography, the island’s long isolation from other landmasses and extreme ecological heterogeneity has resulted in a remarkable diversity of vertebrate hosts. I will first present data suggesting that, although receiving less attention than the vertebrates, Madagascar is likely home to a similarly impressive abundance of insect vector and haemosporidian parasite species. I will then review efforts to understand how parasite species evolve in diverse host communities, focusing on the role of parasite gene families in enabling evasion of host immune responses. Finally, turning to Plasmodium parasites of humans, I will discuss our ongoing work on the impact of extreme weather events on disease transmission dynamics, an area of growing interest in studies of climate-health. Among countries with a high malaria burden, Madagascar is uniquely vulnerable to events such as tropical cyclones and data from our recent study in southeast Madagascar shows these events are likely to have severe consequences for efforts to reduce malaria burden.

Please contact Sara Chelaghma (sc2247@cam.ac.uk) for further enquiries about this seminar