1. Molecular evidence of Plasmodium vivax infection in Duffy negative symptomatic individuals from Dschang, West Cameroon
- Author
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Mpoame Mbida, Giovanni Faggioni, Gianpiero Tebano, Riccardo De Santis, Gianluca Russo, Florigio Lista, Ghyslaine Bruna Djeunang Dongho, Martin Sanou Sobze, Giacomo Maria Paganotti, Alice Pomponi, Giovanni Rezza, and Vincenzo Vullo
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Adult ,Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Adolescent ,Genotype ,030231 tropical medicine ,Population ,Plasmodium vivax ,Biology ,03 medical and health sciences ,Young Adult ,0302 clinical medicine ,Antigen ,parasitic diseases ,medicine ,Malaria, Vivax ,Prevalence ,Parasite hosting ,Humans ,Cameroon ,education ,Child ,Aged ,education.field_of_study ,Research ,Infant, Newborn ,Infant ,cameroon ,duffy antigen genotype ,malaria ,plasmodium vivax ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,biology.organism_classification ,Virology ,Duffy antigen genotype ,Malaria ,030104 developmental biology ,Infectious Diseases ,Parasitology ,Child, Preschool ,Tropical medicine ,Immunology ,Female ,Duffy Blood-Group System - Abstract
Background Plasmodium vivax infection is known to be rare in West/Central Africa, the most accepted explanation being the lack of expression of erythroid Duffy antigen in the local human populations. Duffy negativity prevents the parasite to exploit the entry mechanism on the red blood cell surface. However, there are a growing number of reported vivax infections in Duffy-negative individuals. Data on P. vivax circulation in Cameroon are limited. The aim of the study was to evaluate the P. vivax presence, and its association with the Duffy genotype in West Cameroon. Results Overall, 484 blood samples were collected consecutively from febrile outpatients attending the Dschang’s Hospital (West Cameroon) during a 3-months period. Plasmodium vivax infection was detected by PCR in 5.6% (n = 27/484) of the cases, representing 38.6% (n = 27/70) of all Plasmodium infections detected. All P. vivax infected individuals showed a Duffy-negative genotype, and the frequency of Duffy-positive individuals in the whole tested population was 1.7%. Conclusions The results of this study confirm the circulation of P. vivax in Cameroon, as well as that the lack of expression of Duffy-antigen does not confer full protection against vivax malaria acquisition.
- Published
- 2017