Plasmodium falciparum increases its investment in gametocytes in the wet season in asymptomatic individuals

Abstract

In many regions, malaria transmission is seasonal, but it is not well understood whether P. falciparum modulates its investment in transmission in response to seasonal vector abundance. In two sites in western Kenya (Chulaimbo and Homa Bay), we sampled 1116 asymptomatic individuals in the wet season, when vectors are abundant, and 1743 in the dry season. We screened for P. falciparum by qPCR, and gametocytes by pfs25 RT-qPCR. Parasite prevalence in Chulaimbo and Homa Bay was 27.1% and 9.4% in the dry season, and 48.2% and 7.8% in the wet season respectively. Mean parasite densities did not differ between seasons (P=0.562). A contrasting pattern of gametocyte carriage was observed. In the wet season, fewer infections harbored gametocytes (22.3% vs. 33.8%, P=0.009), but densities were 3-fold higher (P<0.001). Thus, in the wet season, among gametocyte positive individuals, higher proportion of all parasites were gametocytes, reflecting an increased investment in transmission.