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. 2019 Feb 18;9(1):2191.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-38629-0.

Characterization of Plasmodium ovale spp. imported from Africa to Henan Province, China

Ruimin Zhou  1 , Suhua Li  1 , Yuling Zhao  1 , Chengyun Yang  1 , Ying Liu  1 , Dan Qian  1 , Hao Wang  1 , Deling Lu  1 , Hongwei Zhang  2
Affiliations

Characterization of Plasmodium ovale spp. imported from Africa to Henan Province, China

Ruimin Zhou et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

As indigenous malaria has decreased over recent decades, the increasing number of imported malaria cases has provided a new challenge for China. The proportion of imported cases due to Plasmodium ovale has increased during this time, and the difference between P. ovale curtisi and P. ovale wallikeri is of importance. To better understand P. ovale epidemiology and the differences between the two subspecies, information on imported malaria in Henan Province was collected during 2010-2017. We carried out a descriptive study to analyze the prevalence, proportion, distribution, and origin of P. o. curtisi and P. o. wallikeri. It showed that imported P. ovale spp. accounts for a large proportion of total malaria cases in Henan Province, even more than that of P. vivax. This suggests that the proportion of P. ovale cases is underestimated in Africa. Among these cases, the latency period of P. o. curtisi was significantly longer than that of P. o. wallikeri. More attention should be paid to imported ovale malaria to avoid the reintroduction of these two subspecies into China.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Imorted malaria cases in Henan Province, 2010–1017.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Imported malaria cases of P. ovale in Henan Province, 2010–2017.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Geographic distribution of the origin countries of the imported P. ovale cases in Africa. The proportion of the P. ovale subspecies in the origin country was showed with the pie charts.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Proportion of the Plasmodium species among the imported malaria cases in the origin countries. The top 12 countries with most P. ovale cases were analyzed. P. f: Plasmodium falciparum, P. v: Plasmodium vivax, P. o: Plasmodium ovale, P. m: Plasmodium malariae, mixed: mixed infection.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Monthly distribution of reported P. ovale cases, 2010–2017.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The interval between date of arrival in China and illness onset.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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