Nasir Idris Abdullahi, Yakubu Sa'adatu, Mustapha Jelili Olaide
Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, College of Health Sciences, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.
Department of Medical Laboratory Services, University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, Nigeria.
Virology (Auckl). 2017 Aug 4;8:1178122X17724411. doi: 10.1177/1178122X17724411. eCollection 2017.
Malaria and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections are very common causes of human suffering with overlapping global geographic distributions. With the growing incidence of HCV infections in malaria-endemic zones and malaria in areas with exceptionally high HCV prevalence, coinfections and syndemism of both pathogens are likely to occur. However, studies of malaria and HCV coinfections are very rare despite the fact that liver-stage plasmodiasis and hepatitis C develop in hepatocytes which may synergistically interact. The fact that both pathogens share similar entry molecules or receptors in early invasive steps of hepatocytes further makes hepatopathologic investigations of coinfected hosts greatly important. This review sought to emphasize the public health significance of malaria/HCV coinfections and elucidate the mechanisms of pathogens' entrance and invasion of susceptible host to improve on existing or develop antiplasmodial drugs and hepatitis C therapeutics that can intervene at appropriate stages of pathogens' life cycles.
疟疾和丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）感染是造成人类痛苦的常见原因，在全球地理分布上相互重叠。随着疟疾流行地区HCV感染发病率的上升以及HCV高流行地区疟疾的出现，两种病原体的合并感染和综合征很可能发生。然而，尽管肝期疟原虫病和丙型肝炎均在肝细胞中发展，可能存在协同相互作用，但关于疟疾和HCV合并感染的研究却非常罕见。两种病原体在肝细胞早期侵入步骤中共享相似的进入分子或受体，这一事实进一步凸显了对合并感染宿主进行肝脏病理学研究的重要性。本综述旨在强调疟疾/HCV合并感染的公共卫生意义，并阐明病原体进入和侵入易感宿主的机制，以改进现有抗疟药物和丙型肝炎治疗方法，或开发能够在病原体生命周期适当阶段进行干预的药物。
