title: Isolation and identification of a South China strain of Plasmodium inui from Macaca fascicularis.
abstract: Southeast Asian macaques are hosts of a number of Plasmodium infections, some of which are transmittable to humans. During examination of blood films of five wild-caught long-tailed macaques Macaca fascicularis from South China, malaria infection was detected in one of the monkeys. In order to isolate this parasite for identification and characterization, we experimentally passed this parasite through both Assamese (M. assamensis) and rhesus (M. mulatta) monkeys by intravenous injection of infected blood. This parasite morphologically resembled Plasmodium inui, and had a typical 72 h quartan periodicity. This parasite was infective to Anopheles dirus mosquitoes, and salivary gland sporozoites appeared 13 days post feeding. Feeding by 20 infected An. dirus mosquitoes on another Assamese monkey produced infection with a prepatent period of 8 days. Molecular analysis of the small subunit rRNA genes and the mitochondrial genome confirmed this parasite as an isolate of P. inui. In spleen-intact macaques, the infection had a protracted duration with parasites being detected during the rearing of the infected monkeys for over two years. In summary, this study identified a P. inui isolate and successfully passed this parasite through Assamese monkeys by both intravenous inoculation and mosquito transmission.
authors.affiliation: Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Nanning, Guangxi Province 530028, China.
authors.forename: Yaming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Zhaoqing
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Chaturong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Putaporntip
authors.forename: Miao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.forename: Haiyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Chunyan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.forename: Somchai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jongwutiwes
authors.forename: Liwang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cui
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000469:parasitology; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D008252:Macaca fascicularis; D008288:Malaria / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D008992:Monkey Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000635:transmission; D010802:Phylogeny; D010961:Plasmodium / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013045:Species Specificity