Wild chimpanzees infected with 5 Plasmodium species

DOI: 10.3201/eid1612.100424

Suggested citation for this article: Kaiser M, Löwa A, Ulrich M, Ellerbrok, Goffe AS, Blasse A, et al. Wild chimpanzees infected with 5
Plasmodium species. Emerg Infect Dis. 2010 Dec; [Epub ahead of print]
Wild Chimpanzees Infected with 5 Plasmodium Species


Marco Kaiser, Anna Löwa, Markus Ulrich, Heinz Ellerbrok, Adeelia S. Goffe, Anja Blasse, Zinta Zommers, Emmanuel Couacy-Hymann, Fred Babweteera, Klaus Zuberbühler, Sonja Metzger, Sebastian Geidel, Christophe Boesch, Thomas R. Gillespie, and Fabian H. Leendertz


Author affiliations: Robert Koch-Institute, Berlin, Germany (M. Kaiser, A. Löwa, H. Ellerbrok, A.S. Goffe, A. Blasse, F.H. Leendertz); GenExpress GmbH, Berlin (M. Kaiser, M. Ulrich); University of Oxford, Tubney Abingdon, UK (A.S. Goffe, Z. Zommers); LANADA/LCPA, Bingerville, Côte d’Ivoire (E. Couacy-Hymann); Budongo Conservation Field Station, Masindi, Uganda (F. Babweteera, K. Zuberbühler); University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland, UK (K. Zuberbühler); Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany (S. Metzger, S. Geidel, C. Boesch, F.H. Leendertz); and Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (T.R. Gillespie)

Data are missing on the diversity of Plasmodium spp. infecting apes that live in their natural habitat, with limited possibility of human-mosquito-ape exchange. We surveyed Plasmodium spp. diversity in wild chimpanzees living in an undisturbed tropical rainforest habitat and found 5 species: P. malariae, P. vivax, P. ovale, P. reichenowi, and P. gaboni.

Despite ongoing and, in some regions, escalating morbidity and mortality rates associated with malaria-causing parasites, the evolutionary epidemiology of Plasmodium spp. is not well characterized. Classical studies of the blood pathogens of primates have found protozoa resembling human malaria parasites in chimpanzees and gorillas (1); however, these studies were limited to microscopy, negating conclusions regarding evolutionary relationships between human and ape parasites. Recent studies that used molecular approaches showed that captive and wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla), as well as captive bonobos (Pan paniscus), harbor parasites broadly related to P. falciparum (2–5); wild and captive gorillas

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