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Distinct endemic Plasmodium vivax in the West African Sahara
Plasmodium vivax is a widespread cause of malaria in Mauritania, particularly in the Saharan zone. Analysis of a genome-wide panel of single nucleotide polymorphisms reveals the Mauritanian P. vivax population to be genetically diverse and divergent from parasites elsewhere. The parasites apparently undergo frequent recombination, there is no indication of local epidemic population structure, and only a few infections have closely related genotypes. Drug resistance alleles are absent or very rare, suggesting that most infections have been untreated historically. The molecular epidemiology indicates long-standing endemic transmission of this neglected parasite that requires special attention for control. Ba, et al. (2020)
Image Credit: David Conway
Citation: (2021) PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases Issue Image | Vol. 14(12) January 2021. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 14(12): ev14.i12. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pntd.v14.i12
Published: January 15, 2021
Copyright: © 2021 . This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Plasmodium vivax is a widespread cause of malaria in Mauritania, particularly in the Saharan zone. Analysis of a genome-wide panel of single nucleotide polymorphisms reveals the Mauritanian P. vivax population to be genetically diverse and divergent from parasites elsewhere. The parasites apparently undergo frequent recombination, there is no indication of local epidemic population structure, and only a few infections have closely related genotypes. Drug resistance alleles are absent or very rare, suggesting that most infections have been untreated historically. The molecular epidemiology indicates long-standing endemic transmission of this neglected parasite that requires special attention for control. Ba, et al. (2020)
Image Credit: David Conway