Funding: Monkey malaria

13 March 2006

Researchers in Malaysia are aiming to discover whether malarial parasites are being transmitted from monkeys to humans.

Transmission of animal pathogens to humans can lead to potentially catastrophic emerging diseases. Malaria is already a huge human health problem, and a new project will explore whether malaria parasites infecting monkeys are being transmitted to people.

Human malaria is usually caused by one of four Plasmodium species (falciparum, vivax, malariae and ovale), but another, P. knowlesi, has also been found tocause the disease. P. knowlesi, which is normally restricted to monkeys, is particularly common in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo.

Professor Balbir Singh of the University of Malaysia Sarawak, and colleagues in the UK, aim to find out whether humans contract malaria just from other humans or from monkeys as well. The team will also analyse two newly discovered monkey malaria parasites, and see whether they too are being transmitted to humans. Such information will be valuable input into malaria control strategies in the region.