A longitudinal study of human malaria in the West African Savanna in the absence of control measures: relationships between different Plasmodium species, in particular P. falciparum and P. malariae.

The research project in the epidemiology and control of malaria conducted in the Garki District, Kano State, jointly by the Government of Nigeria and the World Health Organization included among its objectives the study of the baseline epidemiology prior to the introduction of any control measures. The present paper analyzes the project's data with respect to the relationships among the three species of Plasmodium present, P. falciparum, P. malariae and P. ovale. Parasitemia with P. falciparum or P. malariae is more likely in the presence than in the absence of the other species. Among persons positive for P. falciparum, those with a higher density of parasitemia are more likely to have P. malariae also than those with a lower density of P. falciparum parasitemia. There is a pronounced seasonal alternation in prevalence between P. falciparum and P. malariae.