Failure to detect Plasmodium vivax in West and Central Africa by PCR species typing.
BACKGROUND
Plasmodium vivax is estimated to affect 75 million people annually. It is reportedly absent, however, from west and central Africa due to the high prevalence of the Duffy negative phenotype in the indigenous populations. Despite this, non-African travellers consistently return to their own countries with P. vivax malaria after visiting this region. An attempt was made, therefore, to detect the presence of P. vivax parasites in blood samples collected from the indigenous populations of west and central Africa.


METHODS
Parasite species typing (for all four human malaria parasites) was carried out by PCR on 2,588 blood samples collected from individuals from nine African malaria-endemic countries.


RESULTS
Most infections (98.5%) were Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium malariae was identified in 8.5% of all infections, and Plasmodium ovale in 3.9%. The prevalence of both parasites varied greatly by country. Only one case of P. vivax was detected from Sao Tome, an island off the west coast of Africa, confirming the scarcity of this parasite in Africa.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of P. vivax in local populations in sub-Saharan Africa is very low, despite the frequent identification of this parasite in non-African travellers.
Culleton
Richard L
RL
Laboratory of Malariology, International Research Centre of Infectious Diseases, Research Institute of Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan. richard@nagasaki-u.ac.jp
Mita
Toshihiro
T
Ndounga
Mathieu
M
Unger
Holger
H
Cravo
Pedro V L
PV
Paganotti
Giacomo M
GM
Takahashi
Nobuyuki
N
Kaneko
Akira
A
Eto
Hideaki
H
Tinto
Halidou
H
Karema
Corine
C
D'Alessandro
Umberto
U
do Rosário
Virgilio
V
Kobayakawa
Takatoshi
T
Ntoumi
Francine
F
Carter
Richard
R
Tanabe
Kazuyuki
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000350:Africa, Central / Q000453:epidemiology; D000354:Africa, Western / Q000453:epidemiology; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D001769:Blood / Q000469:parasitology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016780:Malaria, Vivax / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010965:Plasmodium malariae / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D041122:Plasmodium ovale / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010966:Plasmodium vivax / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D044382:Population Groups; D015995:Prevalence; D014195:Travel
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