Plasmodium knowlesi
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| Plasmodium knowlesi |
Plasmodium knowlesi is a primate malaria parasite commonly found in Southeast Asia. It causes malaria in long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), but it may also infect humans, either naturally or artificially.
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[edit] Epidemiology
Reports of P. knowlesi are confined to Southeast Asia,[1][2] particularly Malaysia,[3] but there are also reports on the Thai-Burmese border.[4] A fifth of the cases of malaria diagnosed in Sarawak, Malaysia are due to P. knowlesi.[3]
P. knowlesi infection is normally considered an infection of long-tailed macaques, but humans who work at the forest fringe or enter the rainforest to work are at risk of being infected with P. knowlesi. The mosquito Anopheles latens is attracted to both macaques and humans and has been shown to be the main vector transmitting P. knowlesi to humans. Within the monkey population, A. hackeri, is believed to be the main vector of P. knowlesi within the monkey population: although A. hackeri is capable of transmitting malaria to humans,[5] it is not normally attracted to humans and therefore cannot be an important vector for transmission.[6]
[edit] Diagnosis
P. knowlesi infections is diagnosed by examining thick and thin blood films in the same way as other malarias. The appearance of P. knowlesi is similar to that of P. malariae and is unlikely to be correctly diagnosed except by a malaria reference laboratory. There are no ill effects of misdiagnosing P. knowlesi as P. malariae, because the treatment is the same.
[edit] Treatment
P. knowlesi infection responds well to treatment with chloroquine and primaquine.[3]
[edit] Plasmodium knowlesi genome data
[edit] References
- ^ Chin W, Contacos PG, Coatney RG, Kimbal HR. (1965). "A naturally acquired quotidian-type malaria in man transferable to monkeys". Science 149: 865. PMID 14332847.
- ^ Yap FL, Cadigan FC, Coatney GR. (1971). "A presumptive case of naturally occurring Plasmodium knowlesi malaria in man in Malaysia". Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 65 (6): 839–40. PMID 5003320.
- ^ a b c Singh B, Lee KS, Matusop A (2004). "A large focus of naturally acquired Plasmodium knowlesi infections in human beings". Lancet 363: 1017–24. DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(04)15836-4.
- ^ Jongwutiwes S, Putaporntip C, Iwasaki T, Sata T, Kanbara H. (2004). "Naturally acquired Plasmodium knowlesi malaria in human, Thailand". Emerg Infect Dis 10 (12): 2211–3. PMID 15663864.
- ^ Wharton RH, Eyles DE. (1961). "Anopheles hackeri, a vector of Plasmodium knowlesi in Malaya". Science 134: 279–80.
- ^ Reid JA, Weitz B. (1961). "Anopheline mosquitoes as vectors of animal malaria in Malaya". Ann Trop Med Parasitol 55: 180–6.
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