Emerg Infect Dis. 2020 Jul;26(7):1392-1398. doi: 10.3201/eid2607.190924.
Population genetic analysis revealed that Plasmodium knowlesi infections in Malaysian Borneo are caused by 2 divergent parasites associated with long-tailed (cluster 1) and pig-tailed (cluster 2) macaques. Because the transmission ecology is likely to differ for each macaque species, we developed a simple genotyping PCR to efficiently distinguish between and survey the 2 parasite subpopulations. This assay confirmed differences in the relative proportions in areas of Kapit division of Sarawak state, consistent with multilocus microsatellite analyses. Analyses of 1,204 human infections at Kapit Hospital showed that cluster 1 caused approximately two thirds of cases with no significant temporal changes from 2000 to 2018. We observed an apparent increase in overall numbers in the most recent 2 years studied, driven mainly by increased cluster 1 parasite infections. Continued monitoring of the frequency of different parasite subpopulations and correlation with environmental alterations are necessary to determine whether the epidemiology will change substantially.
种群遗传学分析表明，在马来西亚婆罗洲，导致疟原虫感染的是两种具有明显差异的寄生虫，分别与长尾猕猴（第 1 类群）和猪尾猕猴（第 2 类群）相关。由于每种猕猴的传播生态可能不同，因此我们开发了一种简单的基因分型 PCR 方法，能够有效地区分两种寄生虫亚群并进行调查。该检测方法证实了在沙捞越州卡皮地区相对比例的差异，与多位点微卫星分析结果一致。对卡皮医院的 1204 例人类感染病例的分析表明，第 1 类群引起了大约三分之二的病例，从 2000 年到 2018 年没有明显的时间变化。我们观察到在最近两年的研究中，整体数量明显增加，主要是由于第 1 类群寄生虫感染的增加。需要继续监测不同寄生虫亚群的频率及其与环境变化的相关性，以确定流行病学是否会发生重大变化。
