Project Group Epidemiology of Highly Pathogenic Microorganisms, Robert Koch-Institut, Berlin, Germany.
Biol Lett. 2013 May 29;9(4):20121160. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2012.1160. Print 2013 Aug 23.
Wild great apes are widely infected with a number of malaria parasites (Plasmodium spp.). Yet, nothing is known about the biology of these infections in the wild. Using faecal samples collected from wild chimpanzees, we investigated the effect of age on Plasmodium spp. detection rates. The data show a strong association between age and malaria parasite positivity, with significantly lower detection rates in adults. This suggests that, as in humans, individuals reaching adulthood have mounted an effective protective immunity against malaria parasites.
野生大型猿类广泛感染多种疟疾寄生虫（疟原虫属）。然而，对于这些寄生虫在野外的生物学特性我们知之甚少。我们使用从野生黑猩猩粪便样本中收集的样本，调查了年龄对疟原虫属检测率的影响。数据显示年龄与疟原虫属阳性之间存在很强的关联性，成年个体的检测率明显更低。这表明，与人类一样，成年个体已经建立了针对疟原虫属的有效保护性免疫。
