Department of Anatomy, Cellular Biology and Zoology, University of Extremadura (UEx), Badajoz, Spain.
Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), Seville, Spain.
Parasit Vectors. 2019 Nov 21;12(1):548. doi: 10.1186/s13071-019-3804-1.
Avian malaria parasites are a highly diverse group that commonly infect birds and have deleterious effects on their hosts. Some parasite lineages are geographically widespread and infect many host species in many regions. Bird migration, natural dispersal, invasive species and human-mediated introductions into areas where competent insect vectors are present, are probably the main drivers of the current distribution of avian malaria parasites.
A total of 412 and 2588 wild house sparrows (Passer domesticus) were captured in 2012 and 2013 in two areas of the Iberian Peninsula (central and southern Spain, respectively). Genomic DNA was extracted from blood samples; parasite lineages were sequenced and identified by comparing with GenBank and/or MalAvi databases.
Thirteen Plasmodium lineages were identified in house sparrows corresponding to three major clades. Five individuals were infected by the African Plasmodium lineage PAGRI02, which has been proposed to actively circulate only in Africa.
Despite the low prevalence of PAGRI02 in sparrows in Spain, our results suggest that the area of transmission of this parasite is more widespread than previously thought and covers both Africa and Europe. Further studies of the global distribution of Plasmodium lineages infecting wild birds are required to identify the current transmission areas of these parasites. This is vital given the current scenario of global change that is providing new opportunities for avian malaria transmission into areas where parasites were previously absent.
禽疟原虫是一个高度多样化的群体，它们通常感染鸟类，并对其宿主产生有害影响。一些寄生虫谱系在地理上分布广泛，感染许多地区的许多宿主物种。鸟类迁徙、自然扩散、入侵物种以及人类介导的引入到存在有效昆虫媒介的地区，可能是当前禽疟原虫分布的主要驱动因素。
在 2012 年和 2013 年，我们分别在伊比利亚半岛的两个地区（西班牙中部和南部）共捕获了 412 只和 2588 只野麻雀（Passer domesticus）。从血液样本中提取基因组 DNA；通过与 GenBank 和/或 MalAvi 数据库比较来测序和鉴定寄生虫谱系。
在麻雀中鉴定出 13 种疟原虫谱系，对应于三个主要分支。有 5 只个体感染了非洲疟原虫谱系 PAGRI02，该谱系被认为仅在非洲活跃传播。
尽管西班牙麻雀中 PAGRI02 的流行率较低，但我们的结果表明，该寄生虫的传播区域比以前认为的更为广泛，涵盖了非洲和欧洲。需要进一步研究感染野生鸟类的疟原虫谱系的全球分布，以确定这些寄生虫的当前传播区域。鉴于当前全球变化的情景为禽疟传播到以前不存在寄生虫的地区提供了新的机会，这一点至关重要。
