Defining hotspots of malaria transmission

疟疾在地方一级的传播是不完整的，存在严重传播的热点。这阻碍了控制措施，但也意味着针对热点地区的额外干预措施将非常有效。目前，我们不知道如何最好地发现这些热点，也不知道如何应用现有的干预措施。例如，我们需要知道周围地区有多少传输来自热点，以及点源的焦点如何。我将分析肯尼亚沿海地区19年来的疟疾历史数据，并辅以西非冈比亚的数据，以确定热点地区的空间格局以及如何检测到它们。我将通过与调查人员合作，在冈比亚、印度尼西亚和非洲其他地方收集疟疾病例的空间数据，扩大我的发现。我将与威康基金会桑格研究所的多米尼克·科瓦特科夫斯基合作，进行详细的基因分型研究，为疟疾寄生虫分配条形码。这将使我能够区分最近在实地分离的疟疾寄生虫的来源，以便为设计针对热点的有针对性的干预措施提供信息。

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.