PONE-D-24-07624Population travel increase the risk of Plasmodium falciparum infection in highland population of Dirashe District, Southwest Ethiopia: a longitudinal studyPLOS ONE

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PLOS ONE

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Reviewer #1: Partly

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Population travel increase the risk of Plasmodium falciparum infection in highland

population of Dirashe District, Southwest Ethiopia: a longitudinal study

This study's findings are highly intriguing and contribute significantly to understanding one of the potential causes of malaria spread in highlands, which are sometimes overlooked by nationwide targeted malaria control programs. The authors should update and rewrite the manuscript in a way that makes it legible and appealing to the audience.

Major Review.

1. Rewrite the discussion section and avoid repetition.

2. Evaluate the risk posed by travelers who do not own bed nets at home or who did not use bed nets but tested positive for Plasmodium infection upon return. This will also help to clarify how they can be contributing to local transmission after infection.

Minor reviews

1. Keywords

2. Revise first and second sentence in the introduction section for clarity (Page 10, Lines 43 – 47)

3. Theres no need of bracketing P. falciparum and P. vivax (Page 10, Lines 51-52)

4. This sentence need citation………Importantly, the increasing temperature may hasten the development of immature stages of malaria vectors, increasing the biting rates…..

5. This sentence is not clear……The non-immune populations traveling from the highlands to the lowlands for daily activities might increase the risk of getting malaria infection in the highland residents……

6. Rewrite….Moreover, local information on malaria incidence and associated risk factors of malaria transmission in highlands of Dirashe is patchy……

7. The sampling periods was chosen to coincided with a pick malaria transmission season following rainy seasons; and the dry season to measuring malaria infection……peak

8. Rewrite…………. In the laboratory, the slides were examined by microscope using recommended magnification power by senior laboratory technologist who was blinded for RDT results. The slide positive in first examination was considered as malaria infection. The second-round examination was conducted for negative slides in first round examination…….

9. Data were entered, edited…. What were the edits?

10. Tabulated age groups in the results section differs from what is reported in methodology section

11. …...(identified as P. falciparum and P. vivax infections)……Page 10..Line 194

12. Rewrite the following sentences…………..The incidence rates of P. falciparum and P. vivax has showed statistically significant variation among months in which the survey was conducted. While males had significantly higher P. falciparum malaria incidence rates (OR = 2.05, 95 % CI: 1.18-3.57, p < 0.05) than females, there was no sex difference in P. vivax malaria.

13. Rewrite the following sentences……………Most travelers 61.3% (1511) were travelled for agricultural activities. One thousand one, 40.6% of the participants were traveled during April to May (planting season), and 35.2% (867) were traveled during October to November (harvesting seasons). Of the total malaria cases (82), 74.4% (61) were identified among the travelers. Of all malaria cases among the travelers, majority 83.6% (51) were traveled to the malaria endemic villages; and 80.3% (49) were engaged in agriculture.

14. What could be the cause of the increased infection rates throughout the planting and harvest seasons? Are the infection patterns consistent between highlands and lowlands?

15. Results on bed net ownership versus infection level, and bed net use vs infection levels?

16. Those people engaged in agriculture had more risk of malaria infection since the population travel was related with agricultural activities……. Could agriculture be posing an increased risk of biting by malaria vectors?

17. Several evidences indicate the expansion of malaria transmission to highland areas which were known to be free from local malaria transmission……… What are the reasons for expansions as cited in the studies?

18. On the other hand, the Ethiopian MIS reported zero annual malaria incidences in the highlands of Ethiopia……Which year?

19. Majority of the travelers failed to use the vector control interventions while travelling to the lowlands….…. Which effective interventions are available to locals while travelling?

20. The move of highland dwellers, from low to high transmission settings makes them more susceptible to malaria infection, if exposed to an infective mosquito bite [15]… predispose them to getting an infectious bite from infected mosquitoes..

21. The higher risk of malaria infection observed in males as compared with females could be justified in that males are more likely travel away from their permanent residence than females for agricultural activities in the lowlands…..The sentence should be supported with data from the results of this study.

22. In addition, the travelers are less likely use the existing malaria control interventions due to lack of access and unsuitability of the sleeping places in the destination……cite relevant literature.

23. The traveler may stay there, and acquire Plasmodium parasites……… It is not certain whether the length of stay will enhance the likelihood of being bitten by an infected malaria vector.

24. About 63.2% of households had at least one LLINs in highlands of Dirashe District which is much higher than the report of Ethiopia MIS 2015 for highland areas above 2000m altitude which is 33.7% at national level………..Is there current report from Ethiopia MIS? If not, report this as an improvement from in LLIN ownership from 33.7% to 63.2%.

25. The bed net use rate was 52.9% of the households that owned at least one bed net, which, is slightly lower than 57.1% for highland areas at national level [3]…….. Why was the use rate lower with higher ownership?

Reviewer #2: The comments what I have for the Author are the following listed below

First of all this title by itself is great for the study area because malaria is now great problem in those area.

When I reviewd this manuscript its method is very clear and scientifically well written. There was no ethical issue problem also.

It is better if the Author re write conculsion what does the finding indicates and correct some reference

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Kevin Omondi Ochwedo

Reviewer #2: Yes: Aberash Assefa Haile

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PONE-D-24-07624R1Population travel increases the risk of Plasmodium falciparum infection in the highland population of Dirashe District, Southwest Ethiopia: a longitudinal studyPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Wegayehu,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Academic editor: 

Figure 1 appears to represent Ethiopia and Southern Ethiopia as two separate countries. Please revise the figures accordingly. Additionally, instead of using the term "illiterate," I recommend using "participants with no formal education," as the translation of "illiterate" into the local language may be considered offensive.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Dec 19 2024 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Musa Mohammed Ali, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: In my point of view their is no any ethical problem for this article, in addition to this l haven't seen competing interest between authors, there is no ethical problem among reach ethic as well as publication . l hope this publication add some value for the community

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Kevin Omondi Ochwedo

Reviewer #2: Yes: Aberash Assefa Haile

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Population travel increases the risk of Plasmodium falciparum infection in the highland population of Gardula Zone, South Ethiopia: a longitudinal study

PONE-D-24-07624R2

Dear Dr. Wegayehu,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Musa Mohammed Ali, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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