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Molecular analysis has confirmed zoonotic transmission of malaria in southern Brazil, according to an article published in The Lancet Global Health.
Researchers identified 28 humans infected with Plasmodium simium, a malaria parasite usually only found in monkeys.
The researchers said screening of local monkeys and mosquitoes will be required to evaluate the extent of the emerging zoonotic threat to public health.
Malaria was thought to have been eliminated from southern Brazil over 50 years ago. However, between 2006 and 2014, 43 cases of malaria were reported in the Atlantic Forest area in southern Brazil. An additional 49 cases were reported from 2015 through 2016.
This prompted researchers to investigate the possibility of zoonotic transmission. The team looked at the 49 cases reported in 2015 and 2016, and they were able to sequence DNA samples from 28 of the 49 patients.
In all 28 cases, the parasite was confirmed to be P simium—not the human parasite Plasmodium vivax, as previously thought.
P simium is transmitted via the Anopheles mosquito and is known to infect some species of howler and capuchin monkeys in the Atlantic Forest region.
All 28 humans infected with P simium had entered the forest or visited the surrounding area. The patients’ main symptom was fever, none of them were admitted to the hospital, and all made full recoveries following treatment.
“There is no evidence that zoonotic malaria can be transmitted from human to human via mosquitoes,” said study author Patrícia Brasil, MD, of Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro Chagas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“In addition, there is no current threat to people in the city of Rio de Janeiro or in other non-forest areas of the Rio de Janeiro state where transmission of the disease does not exist. However, its unique mode of transmission via monkeys and the fact that it occurs in areas of high forest coverage mean that zoonotic malaria poses a unique problem for malaria control efforts and may complicate the drive towards eventual elimination of the disease. Although [this type of malaria is] benign and treatable, visitors should follow measures to avoid insect bites when going into the forest.”
Dr Brasil and her colleagues noted that samples from previous malaria cases reported in the Atlantic Forest area have not yet been tested. Therefore, it is not possible to establish whether P simium has only recently acquired the ability to infect human beings or if zoonotic malaria has previously infected humans in this region.
“In the 1960s, there was a probable case of zoonotic malaria described in a forest guard in the Atlantic Forest of São Paulo, but, until now, there has been no molecular evidence of the parasite being present in humans,” said study author Cláudio Tadeu Daniel-Ribeiro, MD, of Instituto Oswaldo Cruz in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“This is the first demonstration of P simium naturally infecting human beings in forest locations in a region considered to have eliminated transmission of malaria at least 50 years ago.” 
Molecular analysis has confirmed zoonotic transmission of malaria in southern Brazil, according to an article published in The Lancet Global Health.
Researchers identified 28 humans infected with Plasmodium simium, a malaria parasite usually only found in monkeys.
The researchers said screening of local monkeys and mosquitoes will be required to evaluate the extent of the emerging zoonotic threat to public health.
Malaria was thought to have been eliminated from southern Brazil over 50 years ago. However, between 2006 and 2014, 43 cases of malaria were reported in the Atlantic Forest area in southern Brazil. An additional 49 cases were reported from 2015 through 2016.
This prompted researchers to investigate the possibility of zoonotic transmission. The team looked at the 49 cases reported in 2015 and 2016, and they were able to sequence DNA samples from 28 of the 49 patients.
In all 28 cases, the parasite was confirmed to be P simium—not the human parasite Plasmodium vivax, as previously thought.
P simium is transmitted via the Anopheles mosquito and is known to infect some species of howler and capuchin monkeys in the Atlantic Forest region.
All 28 humans infected with P simium had entered the forest or visited the surrounding area. The patients’ main symptom was fever, none of them were admitted to the hospital, and all made full recoveries following treatment.
“There is no evidence that zoonotic malaria can be transmitted from human to human via mosquitoes,” said study author Patrícia Brasil, MD, of Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro Chagas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“In addition, there is no current threat to people in the city of Rio de Janeiro or in other non-forest areas of the Rio de Janeiro state where transmission of the disease does not exist. However, its unique mode of transmission via monkeys and the fact that it occurs in areas of high forest coverage mean that zoonotic malaria poses a unique problem for malaria control efforts and may complicate the drive towards eventual elimination of the disease. Although [this type of malaria is] benign and treatable, visitors should follow measures to avoid insect bites when going into the forest.”
Dr Brasil and her colleagues noted that samples from previous malaria cases reported in the Atlantic Forest area have not yet been tested. Therefore, it is not possible to establish whether P simium has only recently acquired the ability to infect human beings or if zoonotic malaria has previously infected humans in this region.
“In the 1960s, there was a probable case of zoonotic malaria described in a forest guard in the Atlantic Forest of São Paulo, but, until now, there has been no molecular evidence of the parasite being present in humans,” said study author Cláudio Tadeu Daniel-Ribeiro, MD, of Instituto Oswaldo Cruz in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“This is the first demonstration of P simium naturally infecting human beings in forest locations in a region considered to have eliminated transmission of malaria at least 50 years ago.”
Molecular analysis has confirmed zoonotic transmission of malaria in southern Brazil, according to an article published in The Lancet Global Health.
Researchers identified 28 humans infected with Plasmodium simium, a malaria parasite usually only found in monkeys.
The researchers said screening of local monkeys and mosquitoes will be required to evaluate the extent of the emerging zoonotic threat to public health.
Malaria was thought to have been eliminated from southern Brazil over 50 years ago. However, between 2006 and 2014, 43 cases of malaria were reported in the Atlantic Forest area in southern Brazil. An additional 49 cases were reported from 2015 through 2016.
This prompted researchers to investigate the possibility of zoonotic transmission. The team looked at the 49 cases reported in 2015 and 2016, and they were able to sequence DNA samples from 28 of the 49 patients.
In all 28 cases, the parasite was confirmed to be P simium—not the human parasite Plasmodium vivax, as previously thought.
P simium is transmitted via the Anopheles mosquito and is known to infect some species of howler and capuchin monkeys in the Atlantic Forest region.
All 28 humans infected with P simium had entered the forest or visited the surrounding area. The patients’ main symptom was fever, none of them were admitted to the hospital, and all made full recoveries following treatment.
“There is no evidence that zoonotic malaria can be transmitted from human to human via mosquitoes,” said study author Patrícia Brasil, MD, of Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro Chagas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“In addition, there is no current threat to people in the city of Rio de Janeiro or in other non-forest areas of the Rio de Janeiro state where transmission of the disease does not exist. However, its unique mode of transmission via monkeys and the fact that it occurs in areas of high forest coverage mean that zoonotic malaria poses a unique problem for malaria control efforts and may complicate the drive towards eventual elimination of the disease. Although [this type of malaria is] benign and treatable, visitors should follow measures to avoid insect bites when going into the forest.”
Dr Brasil and her colleagues noted that samples from previous malaria cases reported in the Atlantic Forest area have not yet been tested. Therefore, it is not possible to establish whether P simium has only recently acquired the ability to infect human beings or if zoonotic malaria has previously infected humans in this region.
“In the 1960s, there was a probable case of zoonotic malaria described in a forest guard in the Atlantic Forest of São Paulo, but, until now, there has been no molecular evidence of the parasite being present in humans,” said study author Cláudio Tadeu Daniel-Ribeiro, MD, of Instituto Oswaldo Cruz in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“This is the first demonstration of P simium naturally infecting human beings in forest locations in a region considered to have eliminated transmission of malaria at least 50 years ago.”