Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 May 3;21(1):140.
doi: 10.1186/s12936-022-04131-8.

Plasmodium knowlesi: the game changer for malaria eradication

Wenn-Chyau Lee  1 , Fei Wen Cheong  1 , Amirah Amir  1 , Meng Yee Lai  1 , Jia Hui Tan  1 , Wei Kit Phang  1 , Shahhaziq Shahari  1 , Yee-Ling Lau  2
Affiliations
Review

Plasmodium knowlesi: the game changer for malaria eradication

Wenn-Chyau Lee et al. Malar J. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Plasmodium knowlesi is a zoonotic malaria parasite that has gained increasing medical interest over the past two decades. This zoonotic parasitic infection is prevalent in Southeast Asia and causes many cases with fulminant pathology. Despite several biogeographical restrictions that limit its distribution, knowlesi malaria cases have been reported in different parts of the world due to travelling and tourism activities. Here, breakthroughs and key information generated from recent (over the past five years, but not limited to) studies conducted on P. knowlesi were reviewed, and the knowledge gap in various research aspects that need to be filled was discussed. Besides, challenges and strategies required to control and eradicate human malaria with this emerging and potentially fatal zoonosis were described.

Keywords: Humans; Malaria eradication; Plasmodium knowlesi; Research.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Schematic diagram showing some key events related to P. knowlesi in chronological order
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The dynamics of human dwelling and monkey habitat in transmission of knowlesi malaria, and possible strategies to break the circuit of transmission
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Weiss DJ, Lucas TCD, Nguyen M, Nandi AK, Bisanzio D, Battle KE, et al. Mapping the global prevalence, incidence, and mortality of Plasmodium falciparum, 2000–17: a spatial and temporal modelling study. Lancet. 2019;394:322–331. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)31097-9. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Escalante AA, Pacheco MA. Malaria molecular epidemiology: an evolutionary genetics perspective. Microbiol Spectr. 2019;7:10.1128/microbiolspec.AME-0010-2019. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Collins WE, Jeffery GM. Plasmodium ovale: parasite and disease. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2005;18:570–581. doi: 10.1128/CMR.18.3.570-581.2005. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cox-Singh J, Davis TM, Lee KS, Shamsul SS, Matusop A, Ratnam S, et al. Plasmodium knowlesi malaria in humans is widely distributed and potentially life threatening. Clin Infect Dis. 2008;46:165–171. doi: 10.1086/524888. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Singh B, Kim Sung L, Matusop A, Radhakrishnan A, Shamsul SS, Cox-Singh J, et al. A large focus of naturally acquired Plasmodium knowlesi infections in human beings. Lancet. 2004;363:1017–1024. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(04)15836-4. - DOI - PubMed