Indigenous Plasmodium ovale malaria in Bangladesh

Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2010 Jul;83(1):75-8. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.2010.09-0796.

Abstract

In spite of the high prevalence of malaria in Southeastern Bangladesh, there remains a significant shortage of information regarding the presence of three of five human malaria parasites: Plasmodium ovale, P. malariae, and P. knowlesi. The presence of P. ovale and P. knowlesi has previously never been reported from Bangladesh. We used a genus- and species-specific nested polymerase chain reaction, targeting highly conserved regions of the small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene, to investigate the presence of malaria parasites in a total number of 379 patient samples in a survey of patients with febrile illnesses in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Southeastern Bangladesh. We identified the first cases of P. ovale in Bangladesh. They were confirmed by sequence analysis; 189 of 379 samples (49.9%; 95% confidence interval = 44.9-54.9%) were positive for Plasmodium sp. by PCR. P. falciparum monoinfections accounted for 68.3% (61.3-74.5%), followed by P. vivax (15.3%; 10.9-21.2%), P. malariae (1.6%; 0.5-4.6%), P. ovale (1.6%; 0.5-4.6%), and mixed infections (13.2%; 9.1-18.8%). We found no evidence of P. knowlesi in this region.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bangladesh
  • Humans
  • Malaria / parasitology*
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Plasmodium / pathogenicity
  • Plasmodium ovale / genetics*
  • Plasmodium ovale / isolation & purification
  • Plasmodium ovale / pathogenicity
  • Prevalence
  • RNA, Ribosomal, 18S / analysis*
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA*
  • Species Specificity

Substances

  • RNA, Ribosomal, 18S