Plasmodium vivax Malaria in Pregnancy

Title	Plasmodium vivax Malaria in Pregnancy
Acronym	PregVax
Website	http://www.cresib.cat/en/page.asp?id=134
Start date	2008-03-01
End date	2012-08-31
Sponsor	European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)

Project Description

Approximately 25 million pregnant women exposed yearly to malaria live in areas where Plasmodium vivax is endemic (Menéndez, et al., 2007). While the effects of falciparum malaria in pregnancy have been well characterised and are responsible for considerable maternal and infant morbidity and mortality (Desai, et al., 2007), surprisingly little is known about the impact of P. vivax infection during gestation. Malaria in pregnancy has been recently prioritised by the 7th Framework Program of the European Commission. To fill the knowledge gaps of vivax malaria in pregnancy, the PregVax study will carry out a cohort observational study in pregnant women in five P. vivax endemic countries, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, India, and Papua New Guinea, broadly representing most of the world's P. vivax infections (Mendis, et al., 2001; Müeller, et al., 2004; Valecha, et al., 2006; Martinez-Espinosa, et al., 2004). Two thousand pregnant women will be enrolled in each site at the time of routine antenatal care visits and followed-up at the health facility until delivery or end of pregnancy. Clinical-epidemiological studies and immunological analysis will be performed in order to: assess Plasmodium vivax malaria parasitemia, determine the prevalence of infection at each site, assess the impact of Plasmodium vivax malaria on birth weight, and unveil whether there are pregnancy-specific immune responses.