Defining the Geographical Range of the Plasmodium knowlesi Reservoir
Background: The simian malaria parasite, Plasmodium knowlesi, can cause severe and fatal disease in humans yet it is rarely included in routine public health reporting systems for malaria and its geographical range is largely unknown. Because malaria caused by P. knowlesi is a truly neglected trop...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PLOS
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15785/ http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15785/1/Defining%20the%20Geographical%20Range%20%28abstract%29.pdf |
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| author | Moyes, Catherine L. Henry, Andrew J. Golding, Nick Zhi, Huang Balbir, Singh Baird, J. Kevin Newton, Paul N. Huffman, Michael Duda, Kirsten A. Drakeley, Chris J. Iqbal, R. Anstey, Nicholas M. Qijun, Chen Zommers, Zinta Bhatt, Samir Gething, Peter W. Hay, Simon I. |
| author_facet | Moyes, Catherine L. Henry, Andrew J. Golding, Nick Zhi, Huang Balbir, Singh Baird, J. Kevin Newton, Paul N. Huffman, Michael Duda, Kirsten A. Drakeley, Chris J. Iqbal, R. Anstey, Nicholas M. Qijun, Chen Zommers, Zinta Bhatt, Samir Gething, Peter W. Hay, Simon I. |
| author_sort | Moyes, Catherine L. |
| building | UNIMAS Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Background: The simian malaria parasite, Plasmodium knowlesi, can cause severe and fatal disease in humans yet it is rarely
included in routine public health reporting systems for malaria and its geographical range is largely unknown. Because
malaria caused by P. knowlesi is a truly neglected tropical disease, there are substantial obstacles to defining the
geographical extent and risk of this disease. Information is required on the occurrence of human cases in different locations,
on which non-human primates host this parasite and on which vectors are able to transmit it to humans. We undertook a
systematic review and ranked the existing evidence, at a subnational spatial scale, to investigate the potential geographical
range of the parasite reservoir capable of infecting humans.
Methodology/Principal Findings: After reviewing the published literature we identified potential host and vector species
and ranked these based on how informative they are for the presence of an infectious parasite reservoir, based on current
evidence. We collated spatial data on parasite occurrence and the ranges of the identified host and vector species. The
ranked spatial data allowed us to assign an evidence score to 475 subnational areas in 19 countries and we present the
results on a map of the Southeast and South Asia region.
Conclusions/Significance: We have ranked subnational areas within the potential disease range according to evidence for
presence of a disease risk to humans, providing geographical evidence to support decisions on prevention, management
and prophylaxis. This work also highlights the unknown risk status of large parts of the region. Within this unknown
category, our map identifies which areas have most evidence for the potential to support an infectious reservoir and are
therefore a priority for further investigation. Furthermore we identify geographical areas where further investigation of
putative host and vector species would be highly informative for the region-wide assessment. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T06:47:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | unimas-15785 |
| institution | Universiti Malaysia Sarawak |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T06:47:24Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | PLOS |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | unimas-157852017-04-03T06:36:59Z http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15785/ Defining the Geographical Range of the Plasmodium knowlesi Reservoir Moyes, Catherine L. Henry, Andrew J. Golding, Nick Zhi, Huang Balbir, Singh Baird, J. Kevin Newton, Paul N. Huffman, Michael Duda, Kirsten A. Drakeley, Chris J. Iqbal, R. Anstey, Nicholas M. Qijun, Chen Zommers, Zinta Bhatt, Samir Gething, Peter W. Hay, Simon I. QL Zoology Background: The simian malaria parasite, Plasmodium knowlesi, can cause severe and fatal disease in humans yet it is rarely included in routine public health reporting systems for malaria and its geographical range is largely unknown. Because malaria caused by P. knowlesi is a truly neglected tropical disease, there are substantial obstacles to defining the geographical extent and risk of this disease. Information is required on the occurrence of human cases in different locations, on which non-human primates host this parasite and on which vectors are able to transmit it to humans. We undertook a systematic review and ranked the existing evidence, at a subnational spatial scale, to investigate the potential geographical range of the parasite reservoir capable of infecting humans. Methodology/Principal Findings: After reviewing the published literature we identified potential host and vector species and ranked these based on how informative they are for the presence of an infectious parasite reservoir, based on current evidence. We collated spatial data on parasite occurrence and the ranges of the identified host and vector species. The ranked spatial data allowed us to assign an evidence score to 475 subnational areas in 19 countries and we present the results on a map of the Southeast and South Asia region. Conclusions/Significance: We have ranked subnational areas within the potential disease range according to evidence for presence of a disease risk to humans, providing geographical evidence to support decisions on prevention, management and prophylaxis. This work also highlights the unknown risk status of large parts of the region. Within this unknown category, our map identifies which areas have most evidence for the potential to support an infectious reservoir and are therefore a priority for further investigation. Furthermore we identify geographical areas where further investigation of putative host and vector species would be highly informative for the region-wide assessment. PLOS 2014 Article PeerReviewed text en http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15785/1/Defining%20the%20Geographical%20Range%20%28abstract%29.pdf Moyes, Catherine L. and Henry, Andrew J. and Golding, Nick and Zhi, Huang and Balbir, Singh and Baird, J. Kevin and Newton, Paul N. and Huffman, Michael and Duda, Kirsten A. and Drakeley, Chris J. and Iqbal, R. and Anstey, Nicholas M. and Qijun, Chen and Zommers, Zinta and Bhatt, Samir and Gething, Peter W. and Hay, Simon I. (2014) Defining the Geographical Range of the Plasmodium knowlesi Reservoir. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 8 (3). ISSN 1935-2727 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261186986_Defining_the_Geographical_Range_of_the_Plasmodium_knowlesi_Reservoir DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002780 ยท Source: PubMed |
| spellingShingle | QL Zoology Moyes, Catherine L. Henry, Andrew J. Golding, Nick Zhi, Huang Balbir, Singh Baird, J. Kevin Newton, Paul N. Huffman, Michael Duda, Kirsten A. Drakeley, Chris J. Iqbal, R. Anstey, Nicholas M. Qijun, Chen Zommers, Zinta Bhatt, Samir Gething, Peter W. Hay, Simon I. Defining the Geographical Range of the Plasmodium knowlesi Reservoir |
| title | Defining the Geographical Range of the Plasmodium
knowlesi Reservoir |
| title_full | Defining the Geographical Range of the Plasmodium
knowlesi Reservoir |
| title_fullStr | Defining the Geographical Range of the Plasmodium
knowlesi Reservoir |
| title_full_unstemmed | Defining the Geographical Range of the Plasmodium
knowlesi Reservoir |
| title_short | Defining the Geographical Range of the Plasmodium
knowlesi Reservoir |
| title_sort | defining the geographical range of the plasmodium
knowlesi reservoir |
| topic | QL Zoology |
| url | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15785/ http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15785/ http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15785/ http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15785/1/Defining%20the%20Geographical%20Range%20%28abstract%29.pdf |