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SUMMARY:The deafening silence of Plasmodium falciparum asymptomatic infect
 ions - Dr Antoine Claessens (Université Montpellier\, France)
DTSTART:20230503T150000Z
DTEND:20230503T160000Z
UID:TALK182795@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Anna Protasio
DESCRIPTION:Malaria in The Gambia is seasonal\, with virtually all cases o
 ccurring during or just after the four month-long wet season. As there is 
 very little transmission during the dry season\, the reservoir for Plasmod
 ium falciparum parasites is thought to be within asymptomatic chronic infe
 ctions. How the parasite can survive in the same human host for more than 
 8 months is not understood.\nHere we first conducted a longitudinal study 
 in 1500 participants in the Upper River Region of The Gambia from 2014 to 
 2017 over 16 timepoints. In total\, 436 P. falciparum positive samples\, m
 ainly from asymptomatic infections\, were successfully genotyped with 89 S
 NPs. Average identity by descent (IBD) between different infection genotyp
 es was very low even within a single local village\, but isolates from the
  same household were 3 times more likely to be genetically related than th
 ose from elsewhere within the village. Parasites isolated during the dry s
 easons showed higher IBD relatedness to those from the previous wet season
  than to the following one\, showing that haplotype diversity is renewed d
 uring every wet season. \nSecondly\, we recruited 17 carriers who remained
  asymptomatically infected with P.falciparum for over 6 months during the 
 dry season. Using long-read and short-read sequencing technologies\, the p
 arasite genome and transcriptome of these parasites is being characterised
  at each monthly timepoint\, with a particular focus on variant surface an
 tigens (var/rif/stevor)\n\nTo join the meeting online\, click on this "zoo
 m link":https://zoom.us/j/98418226796?pwd=U1VuNDdKT2lYV0JFTm05L3B0VjFJZz09
LOCATION:Seminar Room\, Tennis Court Road\, Dept of Pathology.
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