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Maintenance of malaria in a geographic region requires the presence of mosquito vectors and a reservoir of parasites within infected humans. Travel by infected humans can spread these parasites far beyond the range of infected mosquitoes; therefore travel-mediated spread must be considered in the design of malaria eradication and control programs in endemic areas such as Africa. A multinational team of investigators has now used mobile phone data to assess regional travel and malaria importation routes in Kenya.
The researchers estimated the daily locations of nearly 15 million Kenyan mobile phone subscribers between June 2008 and June 2009 to determine a primary settlement — and travel out of this location — for each individual. Using a det…