A micro-epidemiological analysis of febrile malaria in Coastal Kenya showing hotspots within hotspots

• DOI: 10.7554/elife.02130
• Publication Date: 2014-04-24T15:51:30Z
• Authors: Philip Bejon; Thomas N Williams; Christopher Nyundo; Simon I Hay; David Benz; Peter W Gething; Mark Otiende; Judy Peshu; Mahfudh Bashraheil; Bryan Greenhouse; Teun Bousema; Evasius Bauni; Kevin Marsh; David L Smith; Steffen Borrmann
• Keywords: Spatial epidemiology

Malaria transmission is spatially heterogeneous. This reduces the efficacy of control strategies, but focusing strategies on clusters or 'hotspots' may be highly effective. Among 1500 homesteads in coastal Kenya we calculated (a) fraction febrile children with positive malaria smears per homestead, and (b) mean age homestead. These two measures were inversely correlated, indicating that at higher acquire immunity more rapidly. inverse correlation increased gradually increasing spatial scale analysis, hotspots identified every scale. We found within hotspots, down to level an individual Febrile temporally unstable, 4 km radius could targeted for 1 month following periods surveillance.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02130.001.