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- Mixed-species malaria infections in humans
Trends in Parasitology, Volume 20, Issue 5, 1 May 2004, Pages 233-240
Mayfong Mayxay, Sasithon Pukrittayakamee, Paul N Newton and Nicholas J White
AbstractMixed-species malaria infections are often not recognized or underestimated. In Asia, surveys usually report that <2% of infections are mixed, whereas therapeutic studies in vivax or falciparum malaria have demonstrated a high prevalence (up to 30%) of infection with the other malaria species during convalescence, suggesting covert co-infection. In epidemiological studies, a high prevalence of cryptic mixed-malaria species infection has been detected by sensitive PCR techniques. Concurrently infecting malaria species are mutually suppressive with Plasmodium falciparum tending to dominate Plasmodium vivax, but P. vivax attenuating the severity of P. falciparum. There is evidence for some cross-species immunity. These interactions have important clinical and public health implications.
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- Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium ovale – the ‘bashful’ malaria parasites
Trends in Parasitology, Volume 23, Issue 6, 1 June 2007, Pages 278-283
Ivo Mueller, Peter A. Zimmerman and John C. Reeder
AbstractAlthough Plasmodium malariae was first described as an infectious disease of humans by Golgi in 1886 and Plasmodium ovale identified by Stevens in 1922, there are still large gaps in our knowledge of the importance of these infections as causes of malaria in different parts of the world. They have traditionally been thought of as mild illnesses that are caused by rare and, in case of P. ovale, short-lived parasites. However, recent advances in sensitive PCR diagnosis are causing a re-evaluation of this assumption. Low-level infection seems to be common across malaria-endemic areas, often as complex mixed infections. The potential interactions of P. malariae and P. ovale with Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax might explain some basic questions of malaria epidemiology, and understanding these interactions could have an important influence on the deployment of interventions such as malaria vaccines.
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- The epidemiology of malaria in Papua New Guinea
Trends in Parasitology, Volume 19, Issue 6, 1 June 2003, Pages 253-259
Ivo Müller, Moses Bockarie, Michael Alpers and Tom Smith
AbstractPapua New Guinea (PNG) is a patchwork of different ecological zones, inhabited by human populations of exceptional cultural and linguistic diversity. This results in complex variations in vector ecology and malaria epidemiology. Malaria is the main cause of morbidity in many health facilities in lowland areas, but it is absent in much of the highlands. All four human malaria species occur, but endemicity varies widely, with Plasmodium falciparum locally reaching holo-endemic levels that are rarely found outside sub-Saharan Africa. The high frequency of Plasmodium vivax is an important difference to most African situations. PNG is therefore a prime location for studies of interactions between different parasite species, and of the biology of local human genetic adaptation and its implications for malaria morbidity and mortality.
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Copyright © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd All rights reserved.
Trends in Parasitology, Volume 19, Issue 3, 144-149, 1 March 2003
Human migration, mosquitoes and the evolution of Plasmodium falciparum
To date, coalescent analysis of the Plasmodium falciparum genome sequence has failed to provide a unifying theory regarding the parasite's evolution. While a better understanding of the evolution of the malaria genome will undoubtedly clarify the current controversy, the importance of the parasite's interplay with both the human host and mosquito vector cannot be underestimated. Changes in the population biology or ecology of either one of these species have consequences for malaria transmission and this was never more apparent than in the environmental changes brought about by the advent of agriculture.