This week I had the
opportunity to travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to share the findings of my
research at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH)
annual conference. Thanks to the Undergraduate Student Travel Fund (USTF) I was
able to afford the cost of attending the conference. I had the opportunity to
network with physicians and researchers well-respected in their fields and
learn from them. Most importantly, I was able to explore the city of brotherly
love and eat some incredible food. ASTMH is the nation’s leading professional
society for infectious disease and as an undergraduate it was a great
opportunity to not only attend, but to present.My poster was on “Multiple Episodes of P. vivax Malaria in the Peruvian Amazon: Relapses or Frequent Reinfection?” This summer I had the opportunity to do research with the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit-6 (NAMRU-6) in Iquitos, the largest city in the Peruvian Amazon. Some of the findings for my project are explained below, but the most important concept and take away for me is that health and infection unequally impact the poorest individuals in society the greatest.
Currently, the predominant species of malaria in
South America is Plasmodium vivax, which is difficult to control or
eliminate due to the prevalence of relapse cases. To compare potential
differences in exposure, I carried out geospatial analysis of malaria cases in a
village named Padrecocha, which is located 6 km from Iquitos City. Malaria
cases presenting at the local health center from 2010 –2015 were defined as
cases if they experienced more than one episode of P. vivax in a 12 month
period, whereas those with a single episode during the study period were classified
as controls, 56 controls and 48 cases were identified. The spatial distribution
for cases versus controls was significantly different. Relapse cases lived
closer to water bodies (p < 0.001) and lived further from the health post (p
= 0.166) than cases
with a single malaria episode. Nearest neighbor analysis showed
increased clustering of patients experiencing single infections in the center
of the city compared to relapse cases that were more dispersed.
Further analysis is
needed to determine what is leading to the relapse of these patients.
Clustering in frequent malaria patients could be caused by an increased risk
for infection, genetic similarities in individuals living farther from the city
center, lack of access to medical resources, or increasing poverty with
increased distance from the community’s economic center. Increased distance
from the health center could contribute to relapse by making it more difficult
for infected individuals to access antimalarial drugs for the duration of the
recommended treatment course. Similarly, living further from the city center
could contribute to reinfection through more frequent interactions with vectors
(increased vector density outside the city center and poorer housing
construction, leading to increased exposure).
Attending the conference
and networking with professionals from around the globe enabled me to hear
about incredible research and opportunities occurring far from Mason. Who knows
where I will go next, maybe Africa or back to Peru.
