Asymptomatic infections and their implications for malaria control

• Grant number: 12/09273-7
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International
• Start date: September 17, 2012
• End date: September 27, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health - Epidemiology
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Urbano Ferreira
• Grantee: Marcelo Urbano Ferreira
• Visiting researcher: Maria Gabriela Miranda Gomes
• Visiting researcher institution: Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Portugal
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

A characteristic of the relationship between malaria parasites and their human host is the gradual acquisition of clinical immunity by the host, and its maintenance, as a function of continued exposure to the parasite. As the discovery of the molecular bases for this phenomenon motivates intense activity in basic and translational research, the approach proposed here is complementary. Starting from mathematical models and population data of infection and immunity, we propose to select host-parasite interaction mechanisms in terms of their concordance with population data. Gabriela Gomes brings theoretical approaches from system dynamics that will be integrated with the analysis of data from projects in current development or recently concluded in the laboratory of Marcelo Urbano Ferreira (AU)