Allele frequency distribution in Haiti compared to high and low malaria transmission countries. Non-Haitian data taken from Anderson et al.[20]. Mebat and Buksak are sites within Papua New Guinea.

<p>Allele frequency distribution in Haiti compared to high and low malaria transmission countries. Non-Haitian data taken from Anderson et al.[<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0140416#pone.0140416.ref020" target="_blank">20</a>]. Mebat and Buksak are sites within Papua New Guinea.</p

Plot of the first two principal components of principal component analysis, color coded by study site.

<p>Plot of the first two principal components of principal component analysis, color coded by study site.</p

Multiplicity of infection, mean number of alleles, and heterozygosity in Haiti compared to ranges observed in high and low malaria transmission populations.

<p>^¥ Data reported from Anderson et al.[<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0140416#pone.0140416.ref020" target="_blank">20</a>].</p><p>Multiplicity of infection, mean number of alleles, and heterozygosity in Haiti compared to ranges observed in high and low malaria transmission populations.</p

Map of study sites in Haiti. Study sites are indicated by the colored stars. Blue stars indicate the study sites where the majority of samples were collected.

<p>Map of study sites in Haiti. Study sites are indicated by the colored stars. Blue stars indicate the study sites where the majority of samples were collected.</p

Genetic Diversity of <i>Plasmodium falciparum</i> in Haiti: Insights from Microsatellite Markers

<div><p>Hispaniola, comprising Haiti and the Dominican Republic, has been identified as a candidate for malaria elimination. However, incomplete surveillance data in Haiti hamper efforts to assess the impact of ongoing malaria control interventions. Characteristics of the genetic diversity of <i>Plasmodium falciparum</i> populations can be used to assess parasite transmission, which is information vital to evaluating malaria elimination efforts. Here we characterize the genetic diversity of <i>P</i>. <i>falciparum</i> samples collected from patients at seven sites in Haiti using 12 microsatellite markers previously employed in population genetic analyses of global <i>P</i>. <i>falciparum</i> populations. We measured multiplicity of infections, level of genetic diversity, degree of population geographic substructure, and linkage disequilibrium (defined as non-random association of alleles from different loci). For low transmission populations like Haiti, we expect to see few multiple infections, low levels of genetic diversity, high degree of population structure, and high linkage disequilibrium. In Haiti, we found low levels of multiple infections (12.9%), moderate to high levels of genetic diversity (mean number of alleles per locus = 4.9, heterozygosity = 0.61), low levels of population structure (highest pairwise F_st = 0.09 and no clustering in principal components analysis), and moderate linkage disequilibrium (ISA = 0.05, P<0.0001). In addition, population bottleneck analysis revealed no evidence for a reduction in the <i>P</i>. <i>falciparum</i> population size in Haiti. We conclude that the high level of genetic diversity and lack of evidence for a population bottleneck may suggest that Haiti’s <i>P</i>. <i>falciparum</i> population has been stable and discuss the implications of our results for understanding the impact of malaria control interventions. We also discuss the relevance of parasite population history and other host and vector factors when assessing transmission intensity from genetic diversity data.</p></div