Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Bruce, Australia.
College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Australia.
Yale J Biol Med. 2021 Jun 30;94(2):361-373. eCollection 2021 Jun.
The threats, both real and perceived, surrounding the development of new and emerging infectious diseases of humans are of critical concern to public health and well-being. Among these risks is the potential for zoonotic transmission to humans of species of the malaria parasite, , that have been considered historically to infect exclusively non-human hosts. Recently observed shifts in the mode, transmission, and presentation of malaria among several species studied are evidenced by shared vectors, atypical symptoms, and novel host-seeking behavior. Collectively, these changes indicate the presence of environmental and ecological pressures that are likely to influence the dynamics of these parasite life cycles and physiological make-up. These may be further affected and amplified by such factors as increased urban development and accelerated rate of climate change. In particular, the extended host-seeking behavior of what were once considered non-human malaria species indicates the specialist niche of human malaria parasites is not a limiting factor that drives the success of blood-borne parasites. While zoonotic transmission of non-human malaria parasites is generally considered to not be possible for the vast majority of species, failure to consider the feasibility of its occurrence may lead to the emergence of a potentially life-threatening blood-borne disease of humans. Here, we argue that recent trends in behavior among what were hitherto considered to be non-human malaria parasites to infect humans call for a cross-disciplinary, ecologically-focused approach to understanding the complexities of the vertebrate host/mosquito vector/malaria parasite triangular relationship. This highlights a pressing need to conduct a multi-species investigation for which we recommend the construction of a database to determine ecological differences among all known species, vectors, and hosts. Closing this knowledge gap may help to inform alternative means of malaria prevention and control.
新出现的人类传染病的威胁，无论是真实的还是想象的，都对公共卫生和福祉构成了严重关切。这些风险包括疟原虫物种向人类的动物源性传播的可能性，这些物种历史上被认为只感染非人类宿主。最近在几种研究物种中观察到的疟疾模式、传播和表现的变化，表现为共同的媒介、非典型症状和新的宿主寻找行为。这些变化共同表明存在环境和生态压力，这些压力可能会影响这些寄生虫生命周期和生理构成的动态。这些变化可能会进一步受到诸如城市发展的增加和气候变化加速等因素的影响和放大。特别是，曾经被认为是非人类疟疾物种的扩展宿主寻找行为表明，人类疟疾寄生虫的专业生态位并不是驱动血液寄生虫成功的限制因素。虽然大多数物种的非人类疟疾寄生虫的动物源性传播通常被认为是不可能的，但如果不考虑其发生的可行性，可能会导致人类出现一种潜在的危及生命的血液传播疾病。在这里，我们认为，迄今为止被认为是非人类疟疾寄生虫的物种中出现的感染人类的行为趋势，要求我们采取跨学科的、以生态为重点的方法来理解脊椎动物宿主/蚊子媒介/疟原虫寄生虫三角关系的复杂性。这凸显了迫切需要进行多物种调查，为此我们建议建立一个数据库，以确定所有已知物种、媒介和宿主之间的生态差异。缩小这一知识差距可能有助于提供疟疾预防和控制的替代方法。
