TY - JOUR T1 - Investigation on possible transmission of monkeys' Plasmodium to human in a populations living in the equatorial rainforest of the Democratic republic of Congo. JF - Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl Y1 - 2016 A1 - Dieudonné Makaba Mvumbi A1 - Thierry Lengu Bobanga A1 - Solange Efundu Umesumbu A1 - Billy Kunyu Shako A1 - Jean-Marie Ntumba Kayembe A1 - Nani-Tuma H Situakibanza A1 - Georges Lelo Mvumbi A1 - Pierrette Melin A1 - Patrick De Mol A1 - Marie-Pierre Hayette AB -

Plasmodiums are protozoa that may infect various hosts. Only five species are now recognized as naturally parasitizing humans: Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium knowlesi. This fifth species, P. knowlesi, previously identified as naturally parasitizing the monkey Macaca fascicularis, has been microscopically confused for a long time with P. malariae or P. falciparum and it was not possible to correctly differentiate them until the advent of molecular biology. To date, natural human infections with P. knowlesi only occur in Southeast Asia and a similar phenomenon of natural transmission of simian plasmodium to humans has not been reported elsewhere. This study was conducted to investigate a possible transmission of African small monkey's plasmodium to humans in populations living near the rainforest of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where several species of non-human primates are living. Two successive real-time PCRs were identified in the literature and used in combination for purpose. Only P. falciparum was found in this study. However, studies with larger samples and with more advanced techniques should be conducted.

VL - 5 CP - 1 M3 - 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2015.11.004 ER -