Active clinical trials for "Malaria"

Background: P. falciparum, one of the most virulent forms of malaria, causes more than 300 million episodes of malaria and 1 million deaths each year. The spread of drug-resistant parasites, insecticide-resistant mosquitoes, and persistent socioeconomic conditions of poverty compound the difficulties of malaria as a major global health problem. New means of disease and vector control are vitally needed. Several promising strategies rely on targeting mosquito populations when they are most vulnerable, such as during the dry season when mosquitoes find it difficult to reproduce. Large regions of the West African country of Mali have prolonged dry seasons (up to 8 months), during which mosquito populations dramatically decline within a month after the rainfall ceases. Clearly, mosquitoes can survive the dry season (as evident from their robust numbers during the wet season) but the process that enables them to do so remains unknown. Targeting the small and fragile mosquito population at the end of the dry season could reduce or eliminate the numbers of mosquitoes in certain regions, providing great benefits for communities in dry regions. Objectives: To determine if common malaria-carrying mosquitoes survive the dry season in the Mali village of Thierola by estivation (going dormant, or hibernating, during dry periods). To identify and examine mosquitoes that were marked with special paint during a previous protocol, if these marked mosquitoes are captured during the investigation. Eligibility: All activities in this protocol will take place in Thierola village, Banamba district, Koulikoro region, Mall, West Africa. The village was chosen because it is isolated from other communities by at least 6 km and is a small community of less than 300 inhabitants living in 90 houses. Participants will be healthy adult men between 18 and 65 years of age. Design: Thirty adult men who live in Thierola will be recruited to participate as mosquito collectors for the human-baited trapping method and will work in teams of two. The first collector will expose his lower legs to attract human-seeking mosquitoes. Using a mouth aspirator, the second collector will collect the mosquitoes as they land on the first collector's legs. The collections will be conducted both indoors and outdoors from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. the following morning for 14 consecutive days. All study volunteers will be trained in proper collection technique and supervised throughout the study by a mobile team led by the study investigators. Volunteers will be monitored for signs of malaria and treated accordingly if they develop symptoms of the disease. Researchers will collect mosquito samples at the end of the dry season (April-May) and at the start of the rainy season (May-June). Mosquitoes collected in the study will be analyzed by NIH researchers to learn more about how they survive during the dry season.

This study will look at blood samples taken from 300 preterm babies and newborns admitted for inpatient care at Hopital Gabriel Toure in Bamako, Mali, and to gather information that will help the investigators verify the role of malaria in illness of very small babies. Blood samples will be taken from the mothers so that the investigators can find out if they have a malaria infection and how their body fights malaria. The investigators will also determine whether the mother and newborn baby are infected with the same malaria parasite. The information from this study may be used to improve malaria treatment in very small babies. Mothers and babies whose blood is tested will receive treatment for malaria as recommended by the National Malaria Control Program (NCMP).

The proposed trial design has been developed to assess the consistency and reproducibility of two consecutive direct skin feeding assays (DSFA) at 24-hour interval.

A school-based, prospective, cohort study was conducted to evaluate the epidemiology of P. falciparum (Pf) infections in school-age children and determine the impact of the screen-and-treat approach on Pf infection and anemia prevalence among students in two different transmission settings. Investigators aimed to evaluate how frequently malaria rapid diagnostic tests (mRDTs) fail to detect low-parasite-density infections as well as whether low-density infections contribute to the burden and health consequences of Pf infection in school-age children and whether they contain gametocytes, the parasite stage required for transmission from humans to mosquitos.

This study is to measure prevalence of established and candidate molecular markers of drug resistant malaria at Komé, Doba, Republic of Chad.

The purpose of this study is to measure the impact of maternal malaria on child growth in the two first years of life in relation to fetal growth. This study is following a birth cohort of children born to pregnant women enrolled in the study "Impact of malaria infection in pregnancy on fetal and newborn growth" (protocol OXTREC 14 08 and Mahidol 2009-003-01). In this cohort growth monitoring is conducted until 2 years of age using routine anthropometric measurements such as weight, length, arm and head circumference. A few additional tests will enhance the sensitivity of the study outcomes with minimal risk. These tests will include anthropometry, screening, nutrition questionnaire and neurodevelopmental assessment.

The MATIAS study aims to demonstrate through limited scope implementation studies how injectable artesunate may be progressively rolled out nationwide in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as the preferred treatment for severe malaria.

Plasmodium falciparum malaria remains a global public health threat. Leading malaria vaccine candidates confer only partial short-lived protection at best. An understanding of the mechanisms by which humans acquire malaria immunity through repeated P. falciparum infections may aid the development of a malaria vaccine. This pilor study is designed to initiate the epidemiological groundwork for a future prospective cohort study of acquired malaria immunity in Kalifabougou, Mali, a rural village of approximately 5 000 individuals who are exposed to seasonal P. falciparum transmission each year from July through December. This study will estimate the age-stratified point prevalence of P. falciparum infection before the malaria season and at the peak of the 6-month malaria season, and it will estimate the age-stratified incidence of symptomatic p. falciparum infection during the 6-month malaria season. The spatial distribution of asymptomatic P. falciparum infections and incident malaria cases within the village of Kalifabougou will be determined by merging the prevalence and incidence data with census and Global Positioning System (GPS) data....

This study, conducted by the Malaria Research and Training Center at the University of Bamako, Mali, and the NIAID, will examine how exposure to the malaria parasite in the womb affects the developing immune system of newborns. Little is known about how such exposure in the womb may affect the immune system or alter the risk of malaria or responsiveness to vaccination after birth. A better understanding of this process may provide information useful for childhood vaccination strategies in areas where malaria is widespread. Women 18 years of age and older who live in Bancoumana and are in their last trimester of pregnancy and in good health may be eligible for this study. Participants have blood samples drawn from a finger stick and through a needle placed in a vein two times for this study: when they enroll in the study and again when they go to the Bancoumana Health Center to deliver their baby. After the baby and placenta are delivered, blood is collected from the umbilical cord and placenta. ...

Malaria and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are common in pregnant women in Africa and are important preventable causes of poor birth outcomes and maternal and infant mortality. This study investigated baseline characteristics of the population including: rates of STIs including HIV, prevalence of malaria and tuberculosis (TB) and resistance to common antimalarial drugs.