Table 1.
Clinical characteristics of the population and infection dynamics during the sampling time points.
| Parameter | Day 0 | Day 14 | Day 28 | Day 42 | Day 56 | Day 70 | p value | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | n | n | n | n | n | ||||||||
| Sex (female/total) | 59/100 | 57/98 | 58/99 | 57/100 | 56/98 | 47/80 | |||||||
| Axillary temperature (°C) | 100 | 91 | 92 | 98 | 96 | 80 | |||||||
| Mean (SD) | 36.5 | 36.3 | 36.4 | 36.5 | 36.4 | 36.4 | 0.2587ɞ | ||||||
| Range | (34.6–39.1) | (26.2–39.1) | (34.7–39.3) | (35.1–37.6) | (35.4–37.3) | (33.1–38.0) | |||||||
| *HB (g/dl) | 100 | 92 | 96 | 80 | |||||||||
| Mean (SD) | 11.6 (1.6) | 11.5 (1.3) | 11.6 (1.4) | 0.7933ɞ | |||||||||
| Range∞ | (7.7–15.2) | (8.1–14.3) | (6.9–15.0) | ||||||||||
| RDT | 100 | 66/100 | 80 | 32/80 | |||||||||
| Parasite density | 100 | 91 | 92 | 98 | 96 | 80 | |||||||
| Positive | 25 | 21 | 30 | 37 | 41 | 24 | 0.0445ɞ | ||||||
| Parasite density GM (CI)/µl | 682 (382, 1219) | 1395 (829, 2320) | 1532 (887, 2644) | 597(378, 943) | 765 (529, 1106) | 815 (417, 1591) | |||||||
| Highest parasite density/µl | 9000 | 8440 | 17,960 | 12,640 | 16,760 | 35,720 | |||||||
| Parasite density log10 GM, CI | 2.8 (2.6, 3.1) | 3.1 (2.9, 3.3) | 3.1 (2.9, 3.4) | 2.7 (2.5, 2.9) | 2.8 (2.7, 3.0) | 2.8 (2.6, 3.1) | |||||||
| Microscopic | 94 | 91 | 92 | 98 | 96 | 80 | |||||||
| Prevalence (%), CI | 27 (25, 44) | 23 (21, 40) | 33 (30, 50) | 38 (37, 57) | 43 (36, 56) | 30 (29, 51) | 0.0461ɤ | ||||||
| Persistent (n) | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Molecular (RT-qPCR) | 94 | 91 | 92 | 98 | 96 | 80 | |||||||
| Positive | 57 | 63 | 65 | 64 | 55 | 46 | |||||||
| Prevalence (%), CI | 61 (51, 71) | 69 (58, 78) | 71 (51, 71) | 65 (55, 74) | 57 (47, 67) | 58 (49,71) | 0.2560ɤ | ||||||
| Persistent (n) | 16 | ||||||||||||
| Subpatent infections# | 32 | 42 | 35 | 27 | 14 | 22 | |||||||
| Prevalence (%) | 34 | 46 | 38 | 28 | 15 | 28 | < 0.001ɤ | ||||||
| Gametocyte (IP) (RT-qPCR)~ | 58 | 63 | 60 | 64 | 55 | 49 | |||||||
| Positive | 38 | 30 | 33 | 33 | 43 | 26 | |||||||
| IP prevalence (%), CI | 67 (58, 82) | 48 (34, 60) | 52 (40, 66) | 52 (38, 64) | 78 (69, 90) | 57 (45, 73) | 0.0073ɤ | ||||||
| Persistent (n) | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Clones (n) | 4 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 8 | |||||||
| MOI | 1 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 0.4159ɞ | ||||||
| No infection | |||||||||||||
| Uninfected (n) | 11 | ||||||||||||
n (number of samples), participants absent at a time point were not included. *Two participants have variant hemoglobin genotypes (SS and SC genotypes).
∞Minimum recorded parasite density was set to 80 µl per whole blood. ~Proportion of P. falciparum infections with gametocytes detected by molecular method.
#Proportion of individuals with only submicroscopic parasites (the difference between the number of molecular and microscopic infections).
IP infected population (only samples positive for 18S rRNA were evaluated for gametocytes).
p values among time points were tested using one-way ɞANOVA and ɤChi-Squared. p values < 0.05 were considered significant as indicated in bold.