Defining hotspots of malaria transmission

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Malaria transmission is patchy at a local level, with hotspots of intense transmission. This hinders control measures, but also means that targeting additional interventions on hotspots will be highly effective. At present, we do not know how best to detect these hotspots, or how to apply the interventions available. For example, we need to know how much transmission in the surrounding area results from the hotspot, and how focal the point source is.I will analyse 19 years of historical data on malaria from coastal Kenya, supplemented by data from the Gambia in West Africa, to determine the spatial patterns of hotspots and how they might be detected. I will extend my findings by collaborations with investigators collecting spatial data on malaria cases in Gambia, Indonesia and elsewhere in Africa. In collaboration with Dominic Kwiatkowski in the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, I will conduct detailed genotyping studies to assign a bar-code to malaria parasites. This will allow me to distinguish the recent origin of malaria parasites isolated in the field, in order to inform the design of targeted interventions against hotspots.