The Gambia

Longitudinal cohort studies are important to describe the dynamics of naturally acquired antibody response profiles to defined Plasmodium falciparum malaria antigens relative to clinical malaria episodes.

Information on the period during which infants lose their maternally derived antibodies to malaria and begin to acquire naturally their own immune responses against parasite antigens is crucial for understanding when malaria vaccines may be best administered.

To optimize the use of counter-flow traps baited with human odor (nylon socks that had been worn for a single day) to capture wild mosquitoes in the Gambia, investigations were conducted at a field experimental site.