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. 2022 Nov 17;21(1):343.
doi: 10.1186/s12936-022-04349-6.

Is zoonotic Plasmodium vivax malaria an obstacle for disease elimination?

Bárbara Aparecida Chaves  1   2   3 , Denise Anete Madureira de Alvarenga  4 , Matheus de Oliveira Costa Pereira  4 , Marcelo Gordo  5 , Emanuelle L Da Silva  6 , Edson Rodrigues Costa  6   5 , Aline Souza de Menezes Medeiros  6   5 , Igor José Martins Pedrosa  6 , Daniela Brito  6   7 , Maurício Teixeira Lima  6 , Maria Paula Mourão  6   8 , Wuelton M Monteiro  6   8 , Nikos Vasilakis  9 , Cristiana Ferreira Alves de Brito  4 , Gisely C Melo  6   8 , Marcus V G Lacerda  6   10
Affiliations

Is zoonotic Plasmodium vivax malaria an obstacle for disease elimination?

Bárbara Aparecida Chaves et al. Malar J. .

Abstract

Background: The groundwork for malaria elimination does not currently consider the potential of Plasmodium zoonotic cycles that involve non-human primates (NHPs) in sylvatic environments. Since vivax malaria is less responsive to control measures, finding Plasmodium vivax infected NHPs adds even more concern.

Methods: Both Free-living monkeys in forest fragments inside the urban area and captive monkeys from a local zoo had blood samples tested for Plasmodium species.

Results: In this study, among the Neotropical monkeys tested, three (4.4%), one captive and two free-living, were found to be naturally infected by P. vivax.

Conclusion: This important finding indicates that it is necessary to estimate the extent to which P. vivax NHP infection contributes to the maintenance of malaria transmission to humans. Therefore, the discussion on wildlife conservation and management must be incorporated into the malaria elimination agenda.

Keywords: Malaria; Malaria elimination; Non-human primates; Plasmodium vivax; Zoonotic cycle.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Differential diagnosis of Plasmodium simium infection using nested PCR followed by a digestion with HpyCH4III restriction enzyme. H47 captive Saimiri sciureus, H52 and H73 free-living Saguinus bicolor. 3% agarose gel stained with ethidium bromide. MM:1 kb Plus Ladder (ThermoFischer). D: Digested PCR Product; ND: Undigested PCR product; PCPs: Plasmodium simium; PCPv: Plasmodium vivax; NC: Negative Control
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Phylogenetic tree constructed using the maximum-likelihood method with partial mitochondrial sequences of Plasmodium isolates. Plasmodium vivax isolated from NHPs from Brazilian Amazonia: two of them Saguinus bicolor (H52 and H73) and one Saimiri sciureus (H47); P. vivax isolated from human from Amazon region: PvPV/RO1 and PvPV/RO2 (Porto Velho, Rondonia), PvGuy (Guyana), PvAri/RO (Ariquimedes, Rondônia), PvVen (Venezuela), PvFrGui (French Guiana); P. simium isolated from captive (2098, 2302, 3636) and free living NHPs (J9, J11, MB) from Atlantic forest. All P. simium and P. vivax sequences used here were sequenced by Alvarenga et al. 2018. Accession number at Genbank sequences from P. simium, P. vivax, P. brasilianum, P. malariae, P. falciparum, Plasmodium berghei and Plasmodium yoelii are included in the name of each sequence. The three new sequences obtained here are marked by an asterisk. Figures represent whether the host of each isolate is a human or a non-human primate
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