A close research partnership with African scientists helps solve the mystery of malaria-like illnesses
Two scientists discuss how they used genetic sequencing to identify causes of malaria-mimicking infections in Senegal.

Malaria prevalence has decreased drastically over the past two decades, but clinics in West Africa are still full of patients with fevers and symptoms similar to, but not exactly like, malaria. Little is known about what pathogens cause these infections, and so these “non-malarial febrile illnesses” (NMFI) often fly under the radar of infectious disease surveillance programs because researchers don’t know which pathogens to look for. Understanding how genomics could help detect and identify these mysterious infections has been the focus of a multi-year research partnership between University Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
Funding
National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Flu Lab, TED’s Audacious Project, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
Paper cited
Levine, Z.C., Sene, A., Mkandawire, W. et al. Investigating the etiologies of non-malarial febrile illness in Senegal using metagenomic sequencing. Nature Communications. Online January 25, 2024. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-44800-7.