INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to measure the rate of asymptomatic carriage of plasmodium in the Dakar region two years after the implementation of new strategies in clinical @entity311 management. METHODOLOGY: Between October and December 2008, 2952 households selected in 50 sites of Dakar area, were visited for interviews and blood sampling. Giemsa-stained @entity1503 ( @entity1503 ) were performed for microscopy in asymptomatic adult @entity1 and @entity1 aged 2 to 10 years. To ensure the quality of the microscopy, we performed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with real time qPCR in all positive @entity1503 by microscopy and in a sample of negative @entity1503 and filter paper blood spots. RESULTS: The analysis has concerned 2427 @entity1 and 2231 @entity1 . The mean age of the @entity1 was 35.6 years. The mean age of the @entity1 was 5.4 years. The parasite prevalence was 2.01% (49/2427) in @entity1 and 2.15% (48/2231) in @entity1 . Parasite prevalence varied from one study site to another, ranging from 0 to 7.41%. In multivariate analysis, reporting a @entity311 episode in 2008 was associated with plasmodium carriage (OR=2.57, P=0.002) in @entity1 ; in @entity1 , a @entity311 episode (OR=6.19, P<0.001) and a travel out of Dakar during last 3 months (OR=2.27, P=0.023) were associated with plasmodium carriage. Among the positive @entity1503 , 95.8% (93/97) were positive by plasmodium PCR. Among the negative @entity1503 , 13.9% (41/293) were positive by PCR. In blood spots, 15.2% (76/500) were positive by PCR. We estimated at 16.5% the parasite prevalence if PCR were performed in 4658 @entity1503 . CONCLUSION: Parasite prevalence in Dakar area seemed to be higher than the rate found by microscopy. PCR may be the best tool for measuring plasmodium prevalence in the context of low transmission. Environmental conditions play a major role in the heterogeneity of parasite prevalence within sites.

Asymptomatic carriage of plasmodium in urban Dakar: the risk of XXXX should not be underestimated.

@entity1503 :: ('MESH:D006402', 'Disease') :: ['TBS', 'thick blood smears'] @entity311 :: ('MESH:D008288', 'Disease') :: ['malaria'] @entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['women', 'children']
@entity311 :: (MESH:D008288,Disease) :: ['malaria']
