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Human infection with Plasmodium knowlesi on the Laos-Vietnam border
Border malaria in the Greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia poses a serious threat to the health of the ethnic minority populations of the region. Traditionally thought to be caused primarily by the malaria parasites and , recently a zoonotic parasite, , has been identified in some countries of th...
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Published in: | Tropical medicine and health 2018-09, Vol.46 (1), p.33-33, Article 33 |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | Border malaria in the Greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia poses a serious threat to the health of the ethnic minority populations of the region. Traditionally thought to be caused primarily by the malaria parasites
and
, recently a zoonotic parasite,
, has been identified in some countries of the region. The presence of this parasite poses a challenge to malaria control programmes, as it is maintained in a zoonotic reservoir of forest-dwelling macaque monkeys.
A cross-sectional malaria parasite species prevalence survey was conducted along the Laos-Vietnam border in the central part of the two countries. Human blood samples were collected from Savannakhet in Laos and Quang Tri in Vietnam between August and October 2010 and assayed for the presence of human malaria parasite species and
A PCR targeting the 18S small subunit ribosomal RNA gene and circumsporozoite protein gene was used for
species identification.
Nine cases of
were detected by PCR in blood samples from the Laos side and three from the Vietnam side. All
infections were found in co-infection with
, with some triple infections of
,
and
detected in Laos. Phylogenetic analysis of these parasites suggests that
is circulating in the Laos-Vietnam border region.
This report shows that
is transmited on both sides of the Vietnam-Laos border. Continued monitoring of the range and prevalence of
on both the sides of Laos-Vietnam border is of importance to the National Malaria Control Programmes of both countries. |
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ISSN: | 1348-8945 1349-4147 1349-4147 |
DOI: | 10.1186/s41182-018-0116-7 |