Public health-relevant consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review

Heuschen, Anna-Katharina; Lu, Guangyu; Razum, Oliver; Abdul‐Mumin, Alhassan; Sankoh, Osman; Seidlein, Lorenz von; D’Alessandro, Umberto; Müller, Olaf

doi:10.1186/s12936-021-03872-2

“…The exclusion of SMC in our analysis likely results in a simulated prevalence that is higher than what is likely to be observed in the field. However, this needs to be moderated against the unknown impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which may impact malaria control programs and possibly lead to higher PfPR 2-10 than what was used for model calibration, although the real impacts may not be quantifiable for several years (Heuschen et al 2021;Weiss et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term effects of increased adoption of artemisinin combination therapies in Burkina Faso

Zupko

¹

,

Nguyen

²

,

Somé

³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) are the WHO-recommended first-line therapies for uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria. The emergence and spread of artemisinin-resistant genotypes is a major global public health concern. To explore how the increased adoption of ACTs may affect the high-burden high-impact malaria setting of Burkina Faso, we added spatial structure to a validated individual-based stochastic model of P. falciparum transmission and evaluated long-term effects of increased ACT use. We explored how de novo emergence of artemisinin-resistant genotypes may occur under scenarios in which private-market drugs are eliminated or multiple first-line therapies (MFT) are deployed. We found that elimination of private market drugs would reduce the long-run treatment failures. An MFT policy with equal deployment of artemether-lumefantrine (AL) and dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHA-PPQ) may accelerate near-term drug resistance and treatment failure rates, due to early failure and substantially reduced treatment efficacy resulting from piperaquine-resistant genotypes. A rebalanced MFT approach (90% AL, 10% DHA-PPQ) results in better long-term outcomes than using AL alone but may be difficult to implement in practice.

show abstract

“…The exclusion of SMC in our analysis likely results in a simulated prevalence that is higher than what is likely to be observed in the field. However, this needs to be moderated against the unknown impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which may impact malaria control programs and possibly lead to higher PfPR 2-10 than what was used for model calibration, although the real impacts may not be quantifiable for several years [36,37].…”

Section: Plos Global Public Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term effects of increased adoption of artemisinin combination therapies in Burkina Faso

Zupko

¹

,

Nguyen

²

,

Somé

³

et al. 2022

PLOS Glob Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) are the WHO-recommended first-line therapies for uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria. The emergence and spread of artemisinin-resistant genotypes is a major global public health concern due to the increased rate of treatment failures that result. This is particularly germane for WHO designated ‘high burden to high impact’ (HBHI) countries, such as Burkina Faso, where there is increased emphasis on improving guidance, strategy, and coordination of local malaria response in an effort to reduce the prevalence of P. falciparum malaria. To explore how the increased adoption of ACTs may affect the HBHI malaria setting of Burkina Faso, we added spatial structure to a validated individual-based stochastic model of P. falciparum transmission and evaluated the long-term effects of increased ACT use. We explored how de novo emergence of artemisinin-resistant genotypes, such as pfkelch13 580Y, may occur under scenarios in which private-market drugs are eliminated or multiple first-line therapies (MFT) are deployed. We found that elimination of private market drugs would result in lower treatment failures rates (between 11.98% and 12.90%) when compared to the status quo (13.11%). However, scenarios incorporating MFT with equal deployment of artemether-lumefantrine (AL) and dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHA-PPQ) may accelerate near-term drug resistance (580Y frequency ranging between 0.62 to 0.84 in model year 2038) and treatment failure rates (26.69% to 34.00% in 2038), due to early failure and substantially reduced treatment efficacy resulting from piperaquine-resistant genotypes. A rebalanced MFT approach (90% AL, 10% DHA-PPQ) results in approximately equal long-term outcomes to using AL alone but may be difficult to implement in practice.

show abstract

“…61 Of interest, CD147 is the receptor malaria parasite uses to enter cells. As COVID-19 infection rate seems to be much lower in those countries where malaria is more endemic, [233][234][235] it is argued that some competition for the same receptor may likely contribute to explain the low infection rate in these African populations. Similarly, in these countries sickle cell anemia is widely diffused, which is considered a protective evolutionary mechanism.…”

Section: A) Sialic Acidmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19, Cation Dysmetabolism, Sialic Acid, CD147, ACE2, Viroporins, Hepcidin and Ferroptosis: A Possible Unifying Hypothesis

Cavezzi

¹

,

Menicagli

²

,

Troiani

³

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: iron and calcium dysmetabolism, with hyperferritinemia, hypoferremia, hypocalcemia and anemia have been documented in the majority of COVID-19 patients at later/worse stages. Furthermore, complementary to ACE2, both sialic acid (SA) molecules and CD147 proved relevant host receptors for SARS-CoV-2 entry, which explains the viral attack to multiple types of cells, including erythrocytes, endothelium and neural tissue. Several authors advocated that cell ferroptosis may be the core and final cell degenerative mechanism. Methods: a literature research was performed in several scientific search engines, such as PubMed Central, Cochrane Library, Chemical Abstract Service. More than 500 articles were retrieved until mid-December 2021, to highlight the available evidence about the investigated issues. Results: based on COVID-19 literature data, we have highlighted a few pathophysiological mechanisms, associated with virus-based cation dysmetabolism, multi-organ attack, mitochondria degeneration and ferroptosis. Our suggested elucidated pathological sequence is: a) spike protein subunit S1 docking with sialylated membrane glycoproteins/receptors (ACE2, CD147), and S2 subunit fusion with the lipid layer; b) cell membrane morpho-functional changes due to the consequent electro-chemical variations and viroporin action, which induce an altered ion channel function and intracellular cation accumulation; c) additional intracellular iron concentration due to a deregulated hepcidin-ferroportin axis, with higher hepcidin levels. Viral invasion may also affect erythrocytes/erythroid precursors, endothelial cells and macrophages, through SA and CD147 receptors, with relative hemoglobin and iron/calcium dysmetabolism. AB0 blood group, hemochromatosis, or environmental elements may represent possible factors which affect individual susceptibility to COVID-19. Conclusions: our literature analysis confirms the combined role of SA molecules, ACE2, CD147, viroporins and hepcidin in determining the cation dysmetabolism and final ferroptosis in the cells infected by SARS-CoV-2. The altered ion channels and electrochemical gradients of the cell membrane have a pivotal role in the virus entry and cell dysmetabolism, with subsequent multi-organ immune-inflammatory degeneration and erythrocyte/hemoglobin alterations.

show abstract

Public health-relevant consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review

Cited by 55 publications

References 77 publications

Long-term effects of increased adoption of artemisinin combination therapies in Burkina Faso

Long-term effects of increased adoption of artemisinin combination therapies in Burkina Faso

Long-term effects of increased adoption of artemisinin combination therapies in Burkina Faso

COVID-19, Cation Dysmetabolism, Sialic Acid, CD147, ACE2, Viroporins, Hepcidin and Ferroptosis: A Possible Unifying Hypothesis

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About