Exposure to Ebola Virus and Risk for Infection with Malaria Parasites, Rural Gabon

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Abbate, Jessica, L. | Becquart, Pierre | Leroy, Eric, M. | Ezenwa, Vanessa O. | Roche, Benjamin

Edité par CCSD ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -

International audience. An association between malaria and risk for death among patients with Ebola virus disease has suggested within-host interactions between Plasmodium falciparum parasites and Ebola virus. To determine whether such an interaction might also influence the probability of acquiring either infection, we used a large snapshot surveillance study from rural Gabon to test if past exposure to Ebola virus is associated with current infection with Plasmodium spp. during nonepidemic conditions. We found a strong positive association, on population and individual levels, between seropositivity for antibodies against Ebola virus and the presence of Plasmodium parasites in the blood. According to a multiple regression model accounting for other key variables, antibodies against Ebola virus emerged as the strongest individual-level risk factor for acquiring malaria. Our results suggest that within-host interactions between malaria parasites and Ebola virus may underlie epidemiologic associations.

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