Molecular test for screening malaria-infected blood donors to maximise recipient safety in Acre State, a Brazilian endemic area.

Background: Although blood transfusion is an essential therapeutic procedure, it can present risks, including transmitting infectious diseases, such as malaria. In Acre, the thick blood smear microscopic examination (TBS) is used to screen infected malaria blood donors. However, TBS has low sensitivity for detecting Plasmodium in situations of low parasitaemia, such as those presented by asymptomatic clinically healthy individuals.

A snapshot of a representative Brazilian state of illegal mining in indigenous areas during the era of malaria elimination.

Malaria is a public health problem and the cases diagnosed in the capital of Roraima, Brazil, show potential to characterize the burden of the disease in the state. This study aimed to describe the epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory aspects of malaria cases diagnosed in Boa Vista. For this purpose, a descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in two health units in the city, with individuals diagnosed and who agreed to respond the questionnaire.

Molecular Surveillance of Artemisinin-Resistant Parasites in Mining Areas of the Roraima Indigenous Territory in Brazil.

Multidrug- and artemisinin-resistant (ART-R) parasites represent a challenge for malaria elimination worldwide. Molecular monitoring in the Kelch domain region gene allows tracking mutations in parasite resistance to artemisinin. The increase in illegal miners in the Roraima Yanomami indigenous land (YIL) could favor ART-R parasites.

Are and Gene Mutations Associated with Chloroquine-Resistant Parasites?

(1) Background: Malaria remains a significant global public health issue. Since parasites quickly became resistant to most of the available antimalarial drugs, treatment effectiveness must be constantly monitored. In Brazil, up to 10% of cases of vivax malaria resistant to chloroquine (CQ) have been registered.

Chloroquine- Resistant Haplotypes in Brazilian Endemic Areas Four Decades after CQ Withdrawn.

(1) Background: Malaria is a public health problem worldwide. Despite global efforts to control it, antimalarial drug resistance remains a great challenge. In 2009, our team identified, for the first time in Brazil, chloroquine (CQ)-susceptible parasites in isolates from the Brazilian Amazon.

Gold miners augment malaria transmission in indigenous territories of Roraima state, Brazil.

Background: Endemic malaria is present in all 15 municipalities of Roraima state, Brazilian Amazonia. Knowledge of epidemiological data of specific populations can guide health policies to formulate effective strategies for integrated control of health-disease care. This study aims to ascertain when, where and who fell ill with malaria in Roraima state from 2010 to 2020.

Mutations in Huambo, Angola.

Artemisinin (ART) is recommended as the first-line drug for infections combined with a long-acting partner drug. The emergence of resistance to ART (ARTR) is a concern for malaria. The most feared threat remains the spread of ARTR from Southeast Asia to Africa or the independent emergence of ARTR in Africa, where malaria accounts for 93% of all malaria cases and 94% of deaths.

Correction: Balancing selection and high genetic diversity of Plasmodium vivax circumsporozoite central region in parasites from Brazilian Amazon and Rio de Janeiro Atlantic Forest.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

The genome of the zoonotic malaria parasite Plasmodium simium reveals adaptations to host switching.

Background: Plasmodium simium, a malaria parasite of non-human primates (NHP), was recently shown to cause zoonotic infections in humans in Brazil. We sequenced the P. simium genome to investigate its evolutionary history and to identify any genetic adaptions that may underlie the ability of this parasite to switch between host species.

Reemergence of human malaria in Atlantic Forest of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Unforeseen Plasmodium infections in the Atlantic Forest of Brazilian Extra-Amazonian region could jeopardise malaria elimination. A human malaria case was registered in Três Forquilhas, in the Atlantic Forest biome of Rio Grande do Sul, after a 45 years' time-lapsed without any malaria autochthonous notification in this southern Brazilian state. This finding represents the expansion of the malaria distribution areas in Brazil and the southernmost human malaria case record in South America in this decade.

Balancing selection and high genetic diversity of Plasmodium vivax circumsporozoite central region in parasites from Brazilian Amazon and Rio de Janeiro Atlantic Forest.

Circumsporozoite protein (CSP) is the primary pre-erythrocytic vaccine target in Plasmodium species. Knowledge about their genetic diversity can help predict vaccine efficacy and the spread of novel parasite variants. Thus, we investigated pvcsp gene polymorphisms in 219 isolates (136 from Brazilian Amazon [BA], 71 from Rio de Janeiro Atlantic Forest [AF], and 12 from non-Brazilian countries [NB]).

Extensive genetic diversity of Plasmodium vivax dbp-II in Rio de Janeiro Atlantic Forest and Brazilian Amazon Basin: evidence of positive selection.

Background: Plasmodium vivax is the most widespread human malaria parasite outside Africa and is the predominant parasite in the Americas. Increasing reports of P. vivax disease severity, together with the emergence of drug-resistant strains, underscore the urgency of the development of vaccines against P.

Howler monkeys are the reservoir of malarial parasites causing zoonotic infections in the Atlantic forest of Rio de Janeiro.

Background: Although malaria cases have substantially decreased in Southeast Brazil, a significant increase in the number of Plasmodium vivax-like autochthonous human cases has been reported in remote areas of the Atlantic Forest in the past few decades in Rio de Janeiro (RJ) state, including an outbreak during 2015-2016. The singular clinical and epidemiological aspects in several human cases, and collectively with molecular and genetic data, revealed that they were due to the non-human primate (NHP) parasite Plasmodium simium; however, the understanding of the autochthonous malarial epidemiology in Southeast Brazil can only be acquired by assessing the circulation of NHP Plasmodium in the foci and determining its hosts.

Methodology: A large sampling effort was carried out in the Atlantic forest of RJ and its bordering states (Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Espírito Santo) for collecting and examining free-living NHPs.

Author Correction: An assay for the identification of Plasmodium simium infection for diagnosis of zoonotic malaria in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Lack of quadruple and quintuple mutant alleles associated with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine resistance in Plasmodium vivax isolates from Brazilian endemic areas.

Background And Objective: Brazil is responsible for a large number of Plasmodium vivax cases in America. Given the emergence of P. vivax parasites resistant to chloroquine and the effectiveness of antifolates in vivax malaria treatment together with a correlation between mutations in P.

Analytical validation of real-time quantitative PCR assays for optimum diagnosis of vivax malaria.

Background: The prompt diagnosis of plasmodial species for effective treatment prevents worsening of individual health and avoids transmission maintenance or even malaria reintroduction in areas where Plasmodium does not exist. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) allows for the detection of parasites below the threshold of microscopic examination.

Objective: Our aim was to develop a real-time PCR test to reduce diagnostic errors and increase efficacy.

Absence of K13 Polymorphism in Plasmodium falciparum from Brazilian Areas Where the Parasite Is Endemic.

artemisinin-resistant parasites can be evaluated by examining polymorphisms in the kelch () domain. A total of 69 samples from patients with falciparum malaria were analyzed. All samples were from areas in states in Brazil where the parasite was endemic: Acre ( = 14), Amapá ( = 15), Amazonas ( = 30), and Pará ( = 10).

An assay for the identification of Plasmodium simium infection for diagnosis of zoonotic malaria in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.

Zoonotic malaria poses a unique problem for malaria control. Autochthonous cases of human malaria in the Atlantic Forest have recently been attributed to Plasmodium simium, a parasite that commonly infects non-human primates in this Brazilian biome. However, due to its close similarity at both the morphological and molecular level to Plasmodium vivax, the diagnosis of P.

Evidencing the Role of Erythrocytic Apoptosis in Malarial Anemia.

In the last decade it has become clear that, similarly to nucleated cells, enucleated red blood cells (RBCs) are susceptible to programmed apoptotic cell death. Erythrocytic apoptosis seems to play a role in physiological clearance of aged RBCs, but it may also be implicated in anemia of different etiological sources including drug therapy and infectious diseases. In malaria, severe anemia is a common complication leading to death of children and pregnant women living in malaria-endemic regions of Africa.

A Worldwide Map of Plasmodium falciparum K13-Propeller Polymorphisms.

Background: Recent gains in reducing the global burden of malaria are threatened by the emergence of Plasmodium falciparum resistance to artemisinins. The discovery that mutations in portions of a P. falciparum gene encoding kelch (K13)-propeller domains are the major determinant of resistance has provided opportunities for monitoring such resistance on a global scale.

Low-grade sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine resistance in Plasmodium falciparum parasites from Lubango, Angola.

Background: Malaria is a major parasitic disease, affecting millions of people in endemic areas. Plasmodium falciparum parasites are responsible for the most severe cases and its resistance to anti-malarial drugs is notorious. This is a possible obstacle to the effectiveness of intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) based on sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) cures administrated to pregnant women (IPTp) during their pregnancy.

Plasmodium vivax mdr1 genotypes in isolates from successfully cured patients living in endemic and non-endemic Brazilian areas.

Background: Plasmodium vivax is the most widely distributed species causing the highest number of malaria cases in the world. In Brazil, P. vivax is responsible for approximately 84 % of reported cases.