Study Subjects

A total of 57 children within the age ranges of 1–12 years were recruited for the study, consisting of healthy children with no P. falciparum infections (n = 17), children with asymptomatic P. falciparum malaria (n = 18) and children with clinical malaria (n = 22) who were recruited from the Asutsuare and the Paakro sub-districts which are hyper-endemic areas for malaria transmission in Ghana. A volume of 5 ml of venous blood was collected from all study participants after recruitment. Parasites were identified using Giemsa stained thick and thin blood films. Clinical cases of malaria recruited from the health centers were defined by a history of fever within 24 h of health center attendance and presence of parasitaemia. For clinical cases, we collected venous blood samples from the children before anti-malarial treatment, based on the nationally recommended guidelines. Asymptomatic cases were recruited from the community and were defined by the presence of parasitaemia, absence of fever and no signs or symptoms of the disease. Healthy children, also recruited from the community were selected based on the absence of parasitaemia, fever and no signs or symptoms of the disease.