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1147 Population genetics of Plasmodium falciparum parasites in Mauritania

Location: Mauritania (MR).

Parasite

Partner study description

This project is led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Institut National de Recherches en Santé Publique (INRSP), Mauritania, and supported by an MRC Project Grant entitled ‘Malaria parasite population structure and adaptation on the edge of endemic distribution in Africa’. Some of the analyses of data are reported already: Duffy, C.W. et al. (2017) Population genetic structure and adaptation of malaria parasites on the edge of endemic distribution. Molecular Ecology, 26:2880-2894. doi: 10.1111/mec.14066. This indicates that discrete foci of infection on the edge of the Sahara are genetically highly connected to the wider parasite population in Africa, and local elimination would be difficult to achieve without very substantial reduction in malaria throughout the region.