Detection of novel Plasmodium falciparum haplotypes under treatment pressure in pediatric severe malaria

BackgroundIn Africa, the clearance time for P. falciparum severe malaria varies significantly, likely due to the complexity of P. falciparum infections and the sequestration phenomenon exhibited by this parasite. This study aims to evaluate different methods to study intra-host dynamics of polygenomic infections during parasite clearance under antimalarial treatment. Additionally, it seeks to determine the association between parasite clearance rate following artesunate or quinine treatment and the genetic complexity of P. falciparum in Beninese children with severe malaria. MethodsSixty-five P. falciparum severe malaria individuals diagnosed by microscopy and treated with artesunate or quinine were sampled every 8 hours for 24 hours. Using whole genome sequencing (WGS) data, we estimated the multiplicity of infection (MOI) with three algorithms (Fws, THE REAL McCOIL, and RoH). We then characterized the P. falciparum genetic complexity in WGS-identified polyclonal infections using amplicon sequencing (AmpSeq) on DNA extracted from plasma and from the red blood cells pellet. ResultsAmpSeq demonstrated greater sensitivity in detecting multiple genomes within isolates compared to WGS methods. The MOI from AmpSeq was significantly higher in RBC pellets compared to plasma (2.4 vs 1.8 distinct microhaplotypes per isolate). However, at parasitaemia over 1000 parasites/uL, the same MOI was detected in both plasma and pellet samples in 85.4% of the isolates. We observed a high variability in parasite clearance rate among participants, but it was not associated with parasite MOI at diagnostic. Interestingly, in 60.9% of participants, previously undetected microhaplotypes appeared in circulation 16 hours after treatment initiation. ConclusionThese findings demonstrate that combining different haplotyping techniques effectively determines parasite genetic complexity. Additionally, plasma can be effectively used for parasite genotyping at sufficient parasitaemia levels. The parasite clearance rate of severe malaria is independent of parasite MOI. However, genotyping a single blood sample upon hospital admission does not capture the full spectrum of parasite genotypes present in the infection.