{"doi":"10.1093/infdis/jiac097","title":"School-Based Malaria Screening and Treatment Reduces <i>Plasmodium falciparum</i> Infection and Anemia Prevalence in Two Transmission Settings in Malawi","abstract":"BACKGROUND: In areas highly endemic for malaria, Plasmodium falciparum infection prevalence peaks in school-age children, adversely affecting health and education. School-based intermittent preventive treatment reduces this burden but concerns about cost and widespread use of antimalarial drugs limit enthusiasm for this approach. School-based screening and treatment is an attractive alternative. In a prospective cohort study, we evaluated the impact of school-based screening and treatment on the prevalence of P. falciparum infection and anemia in 2 transmission settings. METHODS: We screened 704 students in 4 Malawian primary schools for P. falciparum infection using rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), and treated students who tested positive with artemether-lumefantrine. We determined P. falciparum infection by microscopy and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and hemoglobin concentrations over 6 weeks in all students. RESULTS: Prevalence of infection by RDT screening was 37% (9%-64% among schools). An additional 9% of students had infections detected by qPCR. Following the intervention, significant reductions in infections were detected by microscopy (adjusted relative reduction [aRR], 48.8%; P < .0001) and qPCR (aRR, 24.5%; P < .0001), and in anemia prevalence (aRR, 30.8%; P = .003). Intervention impact was reduced by infections not detected by RDT and new infections following treatment. CONCLUSIONS: School-based screening and treatment reduced P. falciparum infection and anemia. This approach could be enhanced by repeating screening, using more-sensitive screening tests, and providing longer-acting drugs. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION: NCT04858087.","journal":"The Journal of Infectious Diseases","year":2022,"id":260752,"datarank":0.45627692639432504,"base_score":2.772588722239781,"endowment":2.772588722239781,"self_citation_contribution":0.41588830833596724,"citation_network_contribution":0.04038861805835778,"self_endowment_contribution":0.41588830833596724,"citer_contribution":0.04038861805835778,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":15,"citer_count":2,"citers_with_citation_signal":2,"citers_with_endowment":2,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9513,"is_data_producer":true,"deposit_databanks":{"ClinicalTrials.gov":["NCT04858087"]},"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2022-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":760802,"name":"Ingrid Peterson","orcid":"0000-0002-0789-6845","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":299784,"name":"Andrea G. Buchwald","orcid":"0000-0001-6503-6459","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":406715,"name":"Jenna E. Coalson","orcid":"0000-0002-8591-5642","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":511590,"name":"Clarissa Valim","orcid":"0000-0001-9621-203X","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":820402,"name":"Moses Chilombe","orcid":"0000-0002-0948-2670","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":820922,"name":"Andrew Ngwira","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":817651,"name":"Andy Bauleni","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":820923,"name":"Sarah Schaffer-DeRoo","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":75973,"name":"Karl B. Seydel","orcid":"0000-0001-9859-9549","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":660075,"name":"Mark L. Wilson","orcid":"0000-0003-2968-5181","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":75970,"name":"Terrie E. Taylor","orcid":"0000-0001-7416-3986","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":365990,"name":"Don P. Mathanga","orcid":"0000-0001-6816-1888","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":260137,"name":"Miriam K. Laufer","orcid":"0000-0001-8300-9593","position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":260116,"name":"Lauren M. Cohee","orcid":"0000-0002-7575-630X","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":36,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T00:26:07.666421Z","pmid":"35290461","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}