Identifying Imported and Local Malaria Cases in Eliminating Districts Using Genomic Surveillance

Jaishree Raman of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa will integrate a genomic surveillance platform with the existing routine malaria surveillance program to better identify the source of infections and monitor parasite spread within South and southern Africa. Eliminating malaria requires knowing whether new infections are imported from other countries or are caused by local outbreaks, because they require different intervention strategies. Distinguishing between these sources is difficult, particularly in countries with a high proportion of migrants whose movements are largely undocumented. Leveraging the recent advances in sequencing technology they will genotype samples collected routinely from patients, and translate the data into a usable format for uploading to the existing malaria information system. The data can then be integrated with the relevant epidemiological data, and utilized by managers of the national control program to track the movement of specific strains and better guide interventions.