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Togetherness among Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes: interpretation through simulation and consequences for malaria transmission

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2003

F.-O. GAILLARD ,
C. BOUDIN ,
N. P. CHAU ,
V. ROBERT  and
G. PICHON
F.-O. GAILLARD
Affiliation:
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), UR 79, Geodes, Bondy, France
C. BOUDIN
Affiliation:
IRD, UR 77, Paludisme afro-tropical; Laboratoire de Paludologie, B.P. 1386, Dakar, Senegal
N. P. CHAU
Affiliation:
Université Paris 7 and INSERM, U444, Paris, France
V. ROBERT
Affiliation:
IRD, UR 77, Paludisme afro-tropical; Groupe de Recherche sur le Paludisme, Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, B.P. 1274 Antananarivo, Madagascar
G. PICHON
Affiliation:
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), UR 79, Geodes, Bondy, France
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Abstract

Previous experimental gametocyte infections of Anopheles arabiensis on 3 volunteers naturally infected with Plasmodium falciparum were conducted in Senegal. They showed that gametocyte counts in the mosquitoes are, like macroparasite intakes, heterogeneous (overdispersed). They followed a negative binomial distribution, the overdispersion coefficient seeming constant (k=3·1). To try to explain this heterogeneity, we used an individual-based model (IBM), simulating the behaviour of gametocytes in the human blood circulation and their ingestion by mosquitoes. The hypothesis was that there exists a clustering of the gametocytes in the capillaries. From a series of simulations, in the case of clustering the following results were obtained: (i) the distribution of the gametocytes ingested by the mosquitoes followed a negative binomial, (ii) the k coefficient significantly increased with the density of circulating gametocytes. To validate this model result, 2 more experiments were conducted in Cameroon. Pooled experiments showed a distinct density dependency of the k-values. The simulation results and the experimental results were thus in agreement and suggested that an aggregation process at the microscopic level might produce the density-dependent overdispersion at the macroscopic level. Simulations also suggested that the clustering of gametocytes might facilitate fertilization of gametes.

Keywords

Plasmodium falciparumindividual-based modelling (IBM)gametocyte aggregationmalaria transmissiondensity dependencyCentral AfricaWest Africa
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 127 , Issue 5 , November 2003 , pp. 427 - 435
Copyright
2003 Cambridge University Press

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