Artemisinin-resistant Plasmodium falciparum clinical isolates can infect diverse mosquito vectors of Southeast Asia and Africa.
Artemisinin-resistant Plasmodium falciparum parasites are rapidly spreading in Southeast Asia, yet nothing is known about their transmission. This knowledge gap and the possibility that these parasites will spread to Africa endanger global efforts to eliminate malaria. Here we produce gametocytes from parasite clinical isolates that displayed artemisinin resistance in patients and in vitro, and use them to infect native and non-native mosquito vectors. We show that contemporary artemisinin-resistant isolates from Cambodia develop and produce sporozoites in two Southeast Asian vectors, Anopheles dirus and Anopheles minimus, and the major African vector, Anopheles coluzzii (formerly Anopheles gambiae M). The ability of artemisinin-resistant parasites to infect such highly diverse Anopheles species, combined with their higher gametocyte prevalence in patients, may explain the rapid expansion of these parasites in Cambodia and neighbouring countries, and further compromise efforts to prevent their global spread.
Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 12735 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, Maryland 20852, USA.
Brandyce
B
St Laurent
Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 12735 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, Maryland 20852, USA.
Becky
B
Miller
Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 12735 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, Maryland 20852, USA.
Timothy A
TA
Burton
Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 12735 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, Maryland 20852, USA.
Chanaki
C
Amaratunga
National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control, Phnom Penh 12101, Cambodia.
Sary
S
Men
National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control, Phnom Penh 12101, Cambodia.
Siv
S
Sovannaroth
Biostatistics Research Branch, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Maryland 20852, USA.
Michael P
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8643-9625
MP
Fay
Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand.|Malaria Programme, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton CB10 1SA, UK.|Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Genomics and Global Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK.
Olivo
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8060-6771
O
Miotto
Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 12735 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, Maryland 20852, USA.
Robert W
RW
Gwadz
Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 12735 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, Maryland 20852, USA.
Jennifer M
JM
Anderson
Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 12735 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, Maryland 20852, USA.
Rick M
RM
Fairhurst
D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000469:parasitology*; D000962:Antimalarials; D037621:Artemisinins; D001210:Asia, Southeastern; D002160:Cambodia; D009033:Culicidae / Q000469:parasitology; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000469:parasitology*; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000635:transmission*; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D034101:Sporozoites
D000962:Antimalarials; D037621:Artemisinins; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; C031327:artemisinin