In the absence of clinically proven vaccines and emerging resistance to common antimalarials and insecticides, the onus of interrupting the life cycle of Plasmodium falciparum, is upon the transmission-blocking drugs. Current transmission-blocking drug primaquine finds its use restricted because of associated hemolytic toxicity issues in Glucose-6-Phosphate-Dehydrogenase deficient individuals. This article provides an extensive review of the assays used by the investigators to evaluate the transmission-blocking activity of drugs. Furthermore, limitations in existing transmission-blocking assessment approaches/studies are also covered in detail. This review is expected to help in the identification of lacunae in current understanding of transmission-blocking strategies, which are hindering our efforts to develop sustainable and effective transmission-blocking interventions.
Keywords: CHMI; antimalarials; drugs; gametocyte; malaria; sporogony; transmission-blocking; transmission-blocking drugs.