Name: Magesa, Stephen M. Home country: Tanzania Research country: Tanzania Project period: 1996-1999 Title Malaria parasite dynamics: epidemiology, allelic diversity and turnover rates of Plasmodium falciparum infections in Tanzanian children Abstract This study aimed at studying parasite dynamics, focusing investigations on the dynamics of Plasmodium falciparum subpopulations in children living in an holoendemic area of Tanzania. The studies were carried out in Magoda village, Northeastern Tanzania. The report in this thesis is divided into six chapters. The first chapter gives the general introduction and background to the studies. The second chapter is dedicated to literature survey that reviews previous publications reporting findings related to the present work. The chapter has directed emphasis on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique as a tool for genotyping P. falciparum. Our study used PCR as the main technique for studying the parasite genotypes. The review focuses on several inherent technical and biological aspects with regard to PCR genotyping and P. falciparum parasites, respectively. The aspects are known to influence results from such analysis. Whenever appropriate, the epidemiological implications of the arising issues are discussed. The review concludes that the aspects in question should be given due consideration for proper interpretation of PCR genotyping results. A concern is raised over the non-comparability of the available results. The importance of documenting "strain" differences on the basis of epidemiological factors of significance has been reiterated. Involved research institutions MDepartment of Population Biology, Zoological Institute, University of Copenhagen The National Institute for Medical Research Tanzania, Centre for Medical Parasitology at the University Hospital (Rigshospitalet), Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, and Institute of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Supervisor(s) Ib C. Bygbjerg, Department of International Health, Institute of Public Health, University of Copenhagen Correspondence