title: High prevalence of Plamodium malariae infections in a Brazilian Amazon endemic area (Apiacás-Mato Grosso State) as detected by polymerase chain reaction.
abstract: Plasmodium malariae is commonly confounded with Plasmodium vivax at the microscopic examination of thick blood smear. In the present study, we used a nested PCR assay to amplify a species-specific sequence of the 18S SSU rRNA gene of Plasmodium in blood samples of 497 individuals living in an endemic region of the Brazilian Amazon basin. We have found that, while the microscopic examination of thick blood smears showed a P. malariae prevalence of 1.2% (6 out of 497), the nested PCR revealed 11.9% (59 out of 497) of positive cases for this specie. These results point to the need of the development or use of a more accurate diagnosis method to distinguish between P. malariae and P. vivax, which is particularly important in view of the fact that the choice of drug for the antimalarial therapy depends on the parasite species.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6627, 31270-901 Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. embraga@icb.ufmg.br
authors.forename: Kézia K G
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Scopel
authors.forename: Cor J F
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Fontes
authors.forename: Alvaro C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.forename: M Fátima
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Horta
authors.forename: Erika M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Braga
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010965:Plasmodium malariae / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence