Update on Malaria Diagnostics and Test Utilization

摘要

Malaria is a potentially life-threatening disease caused by apicomplexan parasites in the genus Plasmodium (1–3). Human infection occurs throughout much of the tropics and subtropics and is caused primarily by four species: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae. In parts of Southeast Asia, the zoonotic parasite P. knowlesi also causes a high proportion of locally acquired cases (1). Another nonhuman primate Plasmodium species, P. cynomolgi, was also reported as a rare cause of human malaria in southeast Asia (4). Plasmodium simium and P. brasilianum were documented from human patients in South America, although there is increasing evidence that these species actually represent P. vivax and P. malariae, respectively, which adapted to nonhuman primates after being introduced to South America (4). Plasmodium falciparum is responsible for the majority of malaria-related deaths, with far fewer deaths associated with P. vivax and, rarely, other species (1, 2).