Fine specificity of anti-MSP119 antibodies and multiplicity of Plasmodium falciparum Merozoite Surface Protein 1 types in individuals in Nigeria with sub-microscopic infection

Table 1 Characteristics of the subjects with P. falciparu m sub-microscopic infections in Igbo-Ora village, Nigeria

Factor	Number of subjects	^aSex (F/M)	^bNets (%)	^cPCV	^d P
Age (years)
<1	38	20/18	32 (84)	31.7 (6.8)	<0.0001
1 - 5	24	16/8	24 (100)	33.4 (2.7)	-
6 - 15	36	20/16	26 (72)	37.0 (3.7)	-
>15	49	37/12	38 (77)	39.5 (4.5)	-
Haemoglobin phenotype
AA	135	85/50	111 (82)	34.7 (5.7)	ref
AS	11	7/4	8 (73)	38.2(4.7)	0.14
AC	1	1/0	1 (100)	30	nd
^e Minimum number of MSP1 genotypes
0 to 1*	74	48/26	62 (84)	34.6 (5.3)	0.86
2 to 3	68	41/27	54 (79)	35.0 (6.1)	-
4 to 5	5	4/1	4 (80)	35.8 (2.3)	-
Total	147	93/54	120 (82)	34.8 (5.6)

^a Sex: F, female; M, male
^b Nets: indicates the use of bed and/or window nets; actual numbers and proportion of subjects (%).
^c PCV: mean packed cell volume (SD)
^d P value for differences in PCV; nd: not done
^e Number of MSP1 genotypes was determined by PCR, the presence of 1 or more indicates the presence of parasites.
*Four samples did not produce a PCR product with the MSP1 primers

ISSN: 1475-2875