Microgeographically diverse Plasmodium vivax populations at the Thai-Myanmar border

• Main Authors: Bhavna Gupta, Daniel M. Parker, Qi Fan, B. P.Niranjan Reddy, Guiyun Yan, Jetsumon Sattabongkot, Liwang Cui
• Other Authors: Pennsylvania State University
• Format: Article
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Agricultural and Biological Sciences; Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; Immunology and Microbiology; Medicine
• Online Access: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/42899
• Institution: Mahidol University

© 2016 Elsevier B.V. Malaria transmission along international borders of the Greater Mekong Subregion is a big challenge for regional malaria elimination. At the Thai-Myanmar border, Plasmodium falciparum cases have dropped dramatically; however, increasing P. vivax prevalence and the emerging reports on hidden malaria burden due to asymptomatic infections demand attention. We conducted cross-sectional surveys to detect asymptomatic malaria infections in a small village located at Thai-Myanmar border and genotyped P. vivax infections in order to understand the level of genetic diversity on such a microgeographic scale. PCR/RFLP and DNA sequencing identified high levels of genetic polymorphisms at both Pvmsp3α and Pvmsp3β loci among P. vivax infections. Combining the PCR/RFLP patterns of Pvmsp3α and Pvmsp3β, a total of 10 genotypes were observed among 17 samples, while concatenated DNA sequences of Pvmsp3α and 3β generated 14 haplotypes with haplotype diversity of 0.97. These markedly diverse parasites on a microgeographic scale suggest the circulation of a considerably large parasite population at the international border.