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VERSION:2.0
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CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260930T072242Z
UID:1332db03-f350-46d9-8786-96ff955ff110
DTSTART:20221019T173700Z
DTEND:20221019T170000Z
DESCRIPTION:Malaria parasites infected over 220 million individuals in Afri
 ca\, killing 602000 in 2021 alone. This persistent survival of the main ma
 laria parasite is thanks to its successful arms race with its hosts and de
 ployment of a vast genetic diversity to adapt across variable transmission
  ecologies and interventions. Understanding the history\, genomic variatio
 n\, population structure and connectivity of malaria parasite across Afric
 a\, within regions and down to the households is essential for stratificat
 ion of interventions and sustaining malaria control and elimination. Coord
 inating genomic collaboration across 15 African countries\, the Plasmodium
  Diversity Network Africa (PDNA) identified major Western\, Central and E
 astern African sub-populations\, and a highly divergent Ethiopian populati
 on. All populations were significantly admixed except for Ethiopia. There 
 is gene flow of indigenous West African drug resistance haplotypes to the 
 East and East African haplotypes from Kenya to West Africa. In West Africa
 \, parasite populations are dwindling from Senegal and The Gambia\, riskin
 g increased divergence and adaptation to interventions. Drug resistance ma
 rkers and invasion/antigenic loci are most differentiated between populati
 ons\, with signatures of balancing selection dominant on surface and host-
 parasite interaction genes. These genetic signatures are common across cou
 ntry populations\, where geneflow and recombination determine the dynamics
  of clusters of infections that can be targeted for elimination. Infection
  clusters persist within villages spreading mostly from within households 
 evident from identity-by-descent between parasite isolates. Genomic approa
 ches have defined structure of malaria parasites in Africa\, with the basi
 c infection unit being the household\, which should be the focus of new in
 tervention approaches such as reactive household chemotherapy. .
SUMMARY:From the continent to households\, malaria parasite clans\, interco
 nnectivity\, and survival strategies --- Associate Professor Alfred Amambu
 a Ngwa
URL;VALUE=URI:https://www.h3abionet.org/categories/event/webinars/from-the-
 continent-to-households-malaria-parasite-clans-interconnectivity-and-survi
 val-strategies-with-associate-professor-alfred-amambua-ngwa
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