Malaria Resilience in South America: Epidemiology, Vector Biology, and Immunology Insights from the Amazonian International Center of Excellence in Malaria Research Network in Peru and Brazil

Authors

Kathrine Torres, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
Marcelo U. Ferreira, University of Sao Paulo
Marcia C. Castro, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
Ananias A. Escalante, Temple UniversityFollow
Jan E. Conn, University at Albany, New York State Department of Health
Elizabeth Villasis, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
Maisa da Silva Araujo, Instituto de Pesquisas Rene Rachou
Gregorio Almeida, Instituto de Pesquisas Rene Rachou
Priscila T. Rodrigues, University of Sao Paulo
Rodrigo M. Corder, University of Sao Paulo
Anderson R.J. Fernandes, University of Sao Paulo
Priscila R. Calil, University of Sao Paulo
Winni A. Ladeia, University of Sao Paulo
Stefano S. Garcia-Castillo, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
Joaquin Gomez, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
Lis Ribeiro do Valle Antonelli, Instituto de Pesquisas Rene Rachou
Ricardo T. Gazzinelli, Instituto de Pesquisas Rene Rachou, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Douglas T. Golenbock, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Alejandro Llanos-Cuentas, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
Dionicia Gamboa, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
Joseph M. Vinetz, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Yale School of Medicine

ORCID IDs

Escalante 0000-0002-1532-3430

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2022

Citation

American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (2022) 107(4, Supplement): 168-181

doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.22-0127

Comments

Open access.

License: CC BY

Abstract

The 1990s saw the rapid reemergence of malaria in Amazonia, where it remains an important public health priority in South America. The Amazonian International Center of Excellence in Malaria Research (ICEMR) was designed to take a multidisciplinary approach toward identifying novel malaria control and elimination strategies. Based on geographically and epidemiologically distinct sites in the Northeastern Peruvian and Western Brazilian Amazon regions, synergistic projects integrate malaria epidemiology, vector biology, and immunology. The Amazonian ICEMR’s overarching goal is to understand how human behavior and other sociodemographic features of human reservoirs of transmission— predominantly asymptomatically parasitemic people—interact with the major Amazonian malaria vector, Nyssorhynchus (formerly Anopheles) darlingi, and with human immune responses to maintain malaria resilience and continued endemicity in a hypoendemic setting. Here, we will review Amazonian ICEMR’s achievements on the synergies among malaria epidemiology, Plasmodium-vector interactions, and immune response, and how those provide a roadmap for further research, and, most importantly, point toward how to achieve malaria control and elimination in the Americas.