Study: Monkey malaria widespread in humans

SARAWAK, Malaysia, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- A Malaysian study suggests a potentially fatal species of malaria found in monkeys is being commonly misdiagnosed as a more benign form of the disease.

Researchers studied more than 1,000 samples from malaria patients using DNA-based technology and found more than one in four patients infected with Plasmodium knowlesi, a malaria parasite of macaque monkeys. But those infections were most often misdiagnosed as the normally uncomplicated human malaria caused by P. malariae.

Until recently, P. knowlesi, was thought to infect only monkeys. But the new study, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases by Professors Janet Cox-Singh and Balbir Singh of University Malaysia Sarawak, showed P. knowlesi malaria is widespread in Malaysia.

"Given the evident severity of the illness that it causes, I would recommend that doctors treating patients with a laboratory diagnosis of P. malariae remain alert to the possibility that they may be dealing with the potentially more aggressive P. knowlesi," said Cox-Singh. "This would be particularly important in patients who have spent time in the forest fringe areas of Southeast Asia where the non-human primate host exists."

The research is reported in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.