TY - JOUR
T1 - Atlantic forest malaria
T2 - a review of more than 20 years of epidemiological investigation
AU - Buery, Julyana Cerqueira
AU - de Alencar, Filomena Euridice Carvalho
AU - Duarte, Ana Maria Ribeiro de Castro
AU - Loss, Ana Carolina
AU - Vicente, Creuza Rachel
AU - Ferreira, Lucas Mendes
AU - Fux, Blima
AU - Medeiros, Márcia Melo
AU - Cravo, Pedro
AU - Arez, Ana Paula
AU - Cerutti Junior, Crispim
PY - 2021/1/8
Y1 - 2021/1/8
N2 - In the south and southeast regions of Brazil, cases of malaria occur outside the endemic Amazon region near the Atlantic Forest in some coastal states, where Plasmodium vivax is the recognized parasite. Characteristics of cases and vectors, especially Anopheles (Kerteszia) cruzii, raise the hypothesis of a zoonosis with simians as reservoirs. The present review aims to report on investigations of the disease over a 23-year period. Two main sources have provided epidemiological data: the behavior of Anopheles vectors and the genetic and immunological aspects of Plasmodium spp. obtained from humans, Alouatta simians, and Anopheles spp. mosquitoes. Anopheles (K.) cruzii is the most captured species in the forest canopy and is the recognized vector. The similarity between P. vivax and Plasmodium simium and that between Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium brasilianum shared between simian and human hosts and the involvement of the same vector in the transmission to both hosts suggest interspecies transfer of the parasites. Finally, recent evidence points to the presence of Plasmodium falciparum in a silent cycle, detected only by molecular methods in asymptomatic individuals and An. (K.) cruzii. In the context of malaria elimination, it is paramount to assemble data about transmission in such non-endemic low-incidence areas.
AB - In the south and southeast regions of Brazil, cases of malaria occur outside the endemic Amazon region near the Atlantic Forest in some coastal states, where Plasmodium vivax is the recognized parasite. Characteristics of cases and vectors, especially Anopheles (Kerteszia) cruzii, raise the hypothesis of a zoonosis with simians as reservoirs. The present review aims to report on investigations of the disease over a 23-year period. Two main sources have provided epidemiological data: the behavior of Anopheles vectors and the genetic and immunological aspects of Plasmodium spp. obtained from humans, Alouatta simians, and Anopheles spp. mosquitoes. Anopheles (K.) cruzii is the most captured species in the forest canopy and is the recognized vector. The similarity between P. vivax and Plasmodium simium and that between Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium brasilianum shared between simian and human hosts and the involvement of the same vector in the transmission to both hosts suggest interspecies transfer of the parasites. Finally, recent evidence points to the presence of Plasmodium falciparum in a silent cycle, detected only by molecular methods in asymptomatic individuals and An. (K.) cruzii. In the context of malaria elimination, it is paramount to assemble data about transmission in such non-endemic low-incidence areas.
KW - Malaria
KW - Molecular epidemiology
KW - Anopheles
KW - Plasmodium
KW - DNA
KW - Mitochondrial
KW - Sequence analysis
KW - Zoonoses
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/1/132
U2 - 10.3390/microorganisms9010132
DO - 10.3390/microorganisms9010132
M3 - Review article
C2 - 33430150
VL - Vol. 9
SP - E132-E146
JO - Microorganisms
JF - Microorganisms
SN - 2076-2607
IS - n.º 1
M1 - 132
ER -