Field Unit, ICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research, Chennai, India.
Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, Ghaziabad, India.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2024 Sep 10;111(5):934-939. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.24-0311. Print 2024 Nov 6.
The threat of zoonotic malaria remains largely overlooked in India, particularly in regions such as the Western Ghats (WG), a biodiversity hotspot. The WG has diverse species of non-human primates that serve as reservoir hosts for simian malaria parasites. The presence of the Leucosphyrus group of mosquitoes and other vectors of human malaria makes WG vulnerable to the risk of parasite spillover. Natural and anthropogenic factors have contributed to rampant changes in the WG landscape, leading to increased interaction with the sylvatic hosts and vectors. The simian host-human-vector-environment interactions govern the transmission dynamics of zoonotic malaria; however, our knowledge of these interlinkages, encompassing the effect of anthropogenic disruptions in the WG is limited. The impending threat of zoonotic malaria in India could decelerate progress toward malaria elimination, warranting a comprehensive and systematic investigation of disease dynamics in the WG.
在印度，人畜共患疟疾的威胁在很大程度上仍被忽视，特别是在西高止山脉（Western Ghats，简称 WG）等生物多样性热点地区。WG 拥有多种非人类灵长类动物，它们是灵长类疟原虫的储存宿主。Leucosphyrus 组蚊子和其他人类疟疾传播媒介的存在使 WG 容易受到寄生虫溢出的风险。自然和人为因素导致 WG 景观发生了猖獗的变化，导致与森林宿主和传播媒介的互动增加。灵长类宿主-人类-媒介-环境相互作用控制着人畜共患疟疾的传播动态；然而，我们对这些相互联系的了解，包括 WG 中人为干扰的影响，是有限的。人畜共患疟疾在印度即将构成威胁，可能会减缓疟疾消除的进展，因此需要对 WG 的疾病动态进行全面和系统的调查。
