Plasmodium knowlesi: Reservoir Hosts and Tracking the Emergence in Humans and Macaques

Plasmodium knowlesi, a malaria parasite originally thought to be restricted to macaques in Southeast Asia, has recently been recognized as a significant cause of human malaria. Unlike the benign and morphologically similar P. malariae, these parasites can lead to fatal infections. Malaria parasite...

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Main Authors: Lee, Kim-Sung, Paul C, Divis, Siti Khatijah, Binti Zakaria, Asmad, Matusop, Roynston, A. Julin, Conway, D.J., Cox-Singh, J., Balbir, Singh
Format: E-Article
Language:English
Published: Researchgate 2011
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Online Access:http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15815/1/Plasmodium%20knowlesi%20Reservoir%20Hosts%20%28abstract%29.pdf
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15815/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51049320
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spelling my.unimas.ir.158152017-04-04T08:31:23Z http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15815/ Plasmodium knowlesi: Reservoir Hosts and Tracking the Emergence in Humans and Macaques Lee, Kim-Sung Paul C, Divis Siti Khatijah, Binti Zakaria Asmad, Matusop Roynston, A. Julin Conway, D.J. Cox-Singh, J. Balbir, Singh R Medicine (General) Plasmodium knowlesi, a malaria parasite originally thought to be restricted to macaques in Southeast Asia, has recently been recognized as a significant cause of human malaria. Unlike the benign and morphologically similar P. malariae, these parasites can lead to fatal infections. Malaria parasites, including P. knowlesi, have not yet been detected in macaques of the Kapit Division of Malaysian Borneo, where the majority of human knowlesi malaria cases have been reported. In order to extend our understanding of the epidemiology and evolutionary history of P. knowlesi, we examined 108 wild macaques for malaria parasites and sequenced the circumsporozoite protein (csp) gene and mitochondrial (mt) DNA of P. knowlesi isolates derived from macaques and humans. We detected five species of Plasmodium (P. knowlesi, P. inui, P. cynomolgi, P. fieldi and P. coatneyi) in the long-tailed and pig-tailed macaques, and an extremely high prevalence of P. inui and P. knowlesi. Macaques had a higher number of P. knowlesi genotypes per infection than humans, and some diverse alleles of the P. knowlesi csp gene and certain mtDNA haplotypes were shared between both hosts. Analyses of DNA sequence data indicate that there are no mtDNA lineages associated exclusively with either host. Furthermore, our analyses of the mtDNA data reveal that P. knowlesi is derived from an ancestral parasite population that existed prior to human settlement in Southeast Asia, and underwent significant population expansion approximately 30,000–40,000 years ago. Our results indicate that human infections with P. knowlesi are not newly emergent in Southeast Asia and that knowlesi malaria is primarily a zoonosis with wild macaques as the reservoir hosts. However, ongoing ecological changes resulting from deforestation, with an associated increase in the human population, could enable this pathogenic species of Plasmodium to switch to humans as the preferred host. Researchgate 2011 E-Article PeerReviewed text en http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15815/1/Plasmodium%20knowlesi%20Reservoir%20Hosts%20%28abstract%29.pdf Lee, Kim-Sung and Paul C, Divis and Siti Khatijah, Binti Zakaria and Asmad, Matusop and Roynston, A. Julin and Conway, D.J. and Cox-Singh, J. and Balbir, Singh (2011) Plasmodium knowlesi: Reservoir Hosts and Tracking the Emergence in Humans and Macaques. PLoS Pathogens, 7 (4). ISSN 1553-7374 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51049320 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1002015
institution Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
building Centre for Academic Information Services (CAIS)
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
content_source UNIMAS Institutional Repository
url_provider http://ir.unimas.my/
language English
topic R Medicine (General)
spellingShingle R Medicine (General)
Lee, Kim-Sung
Paul C, Divis
Siti Khatijah, Binti Zakaria
Asmad, Matusop
Roynston, A. Julin
Conway, D.J.
Cox-Singh, J.
Balbir, Singh
Plasmodium knowlesi: Reservoir Hosts and Tracking the Emergence in Humans and Macaques
description Plasmodium knowlesi, a malaria parasite originally thought to be restricted to macaques in Southeast Asia, has recently been recognized as a significant cause of human malaria. Unlike the benign and morphologically similar P. malariae, these parasites can lead to fatal infections. Malaria parasites, including P. knowlesi, have not yet been detected in macaques of the Kapit Division of Malaysian Borneo, where the majority of human knowlesi malaria cases have been reported. In order to extend our understanding of the epidemiology and evolutionary history of P. knowlesi, we examined 108 wild macaques for malaria parasites and sequenced the circumsporozoite protein (csp) gene and mitochondrial (mt) DNA of P. knowlesi isolates derived from macaques and humans. We detected five species of Plasmodium (P. knowlesi, P. inui, P. cynomolgi, P. fieldi and P. coatneyi) in the long-tailed and pig-tailed macaques, and an extremely high prevalence of P. inui and P. knowlesi. Macaques had a higher number of P. knowlesi genotypes per infection than humans, and some diverse alleles of the P. knowlesi csp gene and certain mtDNA haplotypes were shared between both hosts. Analyses of DNA sequence data indicate that there are no mtDNA lineages associated exclusively with either host. Furthermore, our analyses of the mtDNA data reveal that P. knowlesi is derived from an ancestral parasite population that existed prior to human settlement in Southeast Asia, and underwent significant population expansion approximately 30,000–40,000 years ago. Our results indicate that human infections with P. knowlesi are not newly emergent in Southeast Asia and that knowlesi malaria is primarily a zoonosis with wild macaques as the reservoir hosts. However, ongoing ecological changes resulting from deforestation, with an associated increase in the human population, could enable this pathogenic species of Plasmodium to switch to humans as the preferred host.
format E-Article
author Lee, Kim-Sung
Paul C, Divis
Siti Khatijah, Binti Zakaria
Asmad, Matusop
Roynston, A. Julin
Conway, D.J.
Cox-Singh, J.
Balbir, Singh
author_facet Lee, Kim-Sung
Paul C, Divis
Siti Khatijah, Binti Zakaria
Asmad, Matusop
Roynston, A. Julin
Conway, D.J.
Cox-Singh, J.
Balbir, Singh
author_sort Lee, Kim-Sung
title Plasmodium knowlesi: Reservoir Hosts and Tracking the Emergence in Humans and Macaques
title_short Plasmodium knowlesi: Reservoir Hosts and Tracking the Emergence in Humans and Macaques
title_full Plasmodium knowlesi: Reservoir Hosts and Tracking the Emergence in Humans and Macaques
title_fullStr Plasmodium knowlesi: Reservoir Hosts and Tracking the Emergence in Humans and Macaques
title_full_unstemmed Plasmodium knowlesi: Reservoir Hosts and Tracking the Emergence in Humans and Macaques
title_sort plasmodium knowlesi: reservoir hosts and tracking the emergence in humans and macaques
publisher Researchgate
publishDate 2011
url http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15815/1/Plasmodium%20knowlesi%20Reservoir%20Hosts%20%28abstract%29.pdf
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15815/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51049320
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