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Researchers from Fiocruz began a study that seeks to understand the dynamics of malaria transmission in areas of high incidence in the states of Amazonas, Rondônia and Acre. The research, which integrates efforts from local and national institutions, focuses on identifying the vectors responsible for the dissemination of the disease and proposing effective control and prevention strategies.
Data will be part of an unprecedented study of Fiocruz/Photo: Reproduction
In Amazonas, the investigation will be conducted in the municipality of Tefé, located about 633 km from Manaus by river. With continuous records throughout the year, the city is considered an endemic zone, with urban and rural malaria transmission. “It can be said that all 73,669 inhabitants are at risk of contracting the disease,” says Fiocruz Amazonian researcher Claudia Maria Ríos-Velásquez. The research will be conducted in partnership with the Amazonas Health Surveillance Foundation (FVS) and the State Department of Health (SES-AM).
In Rondônia, studies are concentrated in the dairy basin region, located on the border between Porto Velho and the municipality of Candeias do Jamari, one of the main areas of malaria circulation in the state. The local performance has the support of the Zoonosis Control Department (DCZ), the Health Surveillance Department (DVS) and the State Health Surveillance Agency (Agevisa/Sesau).
In Acre, the survey will be conducted in the rural area of Cruzeiro do Sul, a city 635 km from Rio Branco, which concentrates 50% of cases of the disease in the state.
The rural area of Cruzeiro do Sul will be analyzed by the study/Photo: Diego Silva/Secom
In Acre, the study is led by researcher Rodrigo Medeiros Martorano, from the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases in the Amazon (Labdinamo), from the Federal University of Acre (UFAC). He points out that the main barrier to disease control in the region is access to affected communities. “Malaria is predominantly rural and affects newly dismantled areas, where public health policies often do not accompany the advancement of occupation,” he explains.
Titled Dynamics of Malaria Transmission in the Amazon: Influence of control interventions in endemic areas, the research was approved through the so-called CNPq/MCTI/FNDCT 19/2024, within the Pro-Amazonian program. The main objective is to identify the transmitting mosquitoes of the disease, to understand their habits and to evaluate how these factors influence the maintenance of cases in the studied areas.
The first phase of the study, which began in March, involved the sociodemographic survey of local populations, including number of residents and socioeconomic profile. In the second stage, vector monitoring will be done, with mosquito collection and monthly follow -up, to identify times of greater activity, transmission places (internal or external to residences) and presence of malaria parasite in vectors.
According to Maísa Araújo, one of the study coordinators in Porto Velho, the next steps will include educational actions with communities, distribution of insecticide -impregnated mosquitoes and implantation of rapid diagnostic tests. “Community participation is essential at all stages of research,” he says.
Jansen Fernandes de Medeiros, general coordinator of the project by Fiocruz Rondônia, emphasizes the importance of collaboration between the institutions involved. “This joint effort will enable crucial aspects of the epidemiological scenario of malaria in vulnerable regions of the Amazon, where knowledge is still limited,” he concludes.
Important step
This Friday, April 25, Acre joins the world in the struggle for malaria awareness and prevention. The date, created by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2007, recognizes global efforts to control and eliminate this disease which, although curable and avoidable, still represents a serious public health problem in tropical regions such as the Amazon.
Although Acre historically figures among states with a tendency to incidence of malaria, epidemiological indicators point to significant advances in disease control in recent years. According to data from the Epidemiological Surveillance Information System (Sivep-Malária), between 2020 and 2024, the number of indigenous cases fell 52.7%from 11,619 to 5,498 records.
Between January 1 and April 15, 2025, 1,355 native cases of malaria were notified in the state, which represents a reduction of 8.2% over the same period of 2024, when 1,252 cases were recorded.
