Temporal and spatial dynamics of Plasmodium falciparum clonal lineages in Guyana.

Plasmodium parasites, the causal agents of malaria, are eukaryotic organisms that obligately undergo sexual recombination within mosquitoes. In low transmission settings, parasites recombine with themselves, and the clonal lineage is propagated rather than broken up by outcrossing. We investigated whether stochastic/neutral factors drive the persistence and abundance of Plasmodium falciparum clonal lineages in Guyana, a country with relatively low malaria transmission, but the only setting in the Americas in which an important artemisinin resistance mutation (pfk13 C580Y) has been observed.

Temporal and spatial dynamics of clonal lineages in Guyana.

parasites, the causal agents of malaria, are eukaryotic organisms that obligately undergo sexual recombination within mosquitoes. However, in low transmission settings where most mosquitoes become infected with only a single parasite clone, parasites recombine with themselves, and the clonal lineage is propagated rather than broken up by outcrossing. We investigated whether stochastic/neutral factors drive the persistence and abundance of clonal lineages in Guyana, a country with relatively low malaria transmission, but the only setting in the Americas in which an important artemisinin resistance mutation ( C580Y) has been observed.

Kelch13 mutations in Plasmodium falciparum and risk of spreading in Amazon basin countries.

Background: The first potential focus for artemisinin resistance in South America was recently confirmed with the presence of the C580Y mutation in the Plasmodium falciparum kelch 13 gene (pfk13) in Guyana.

Objectives: This study aimed to strengthen pfk13 monitoring in the Amazon basin countries, to compile the available data and to evaluate the risk of spreading of mutations.

Methods: Sanger sequencing was done on 862 samples collected between 1998 and 2019, and a global map of pfk13 genotypes available for this region was constructed.

Ecology, evolution, and epidemiology of zoonotic and vector-borne infectious diseases in French Guiana: Transdisciplinarity does matter to tackle new emerging threats.

French Guiana is a European ultraperipheric region located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It constitutes an important forested region for biological conservation in the Neotropics. Although very sparsely populated, with its inhabitants mainly concentrated on the Atlantic coastal strip and along the two main rivers, it is marked by the presence and development of old and new epidemic disease outbreaks, both research and health priorities.

Spatiotemporal multiple insecticide resistance in Aedes aegypti populations in French Guiana: need for alternative vector control.

Background: Aedes aegypti is the sole vector of urban arboviruses in French Guiana. Overtime, the species has been responsible for the transmission of viruses during yellow fever, dengue, chikungunya and Zika outbreaks. Decades of vector control have produced resistant populations to deltamethrin, the sole molecule available to control adult mosquitoes in this French Territory.

Local emergence in Amazonia of C580Y mutants associated with artemisinin resistance.

Antimalarial drug resistance has historically arisen through convergent mutations in parasite populations in Southeast Asia and South America. For the past decade in Southeast Asia, artemisinins, the core component of first-line antimalarial therapies, have experienced delayed parasite clearance associated with several mutations, primarily C580Y. We report that mutant has emerged independently in Guyana, with genome analysis indicating an evolutionary origin distinct from Southeast Asia.