Genetic diversity of and field isolates from Honduras in the malaria elimination phase.

Malaria continues to be a major threat to public health in tropical regions, primarily affecting sub-Saharan Africa but also Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. Malaria cases in Honduras have seen a significant decline and the country aims to eliminate the disease by 2030. This study examines the genetic diversity of and in Honduras using four molecular markers (, , , and ), and the chloroquine resistance marker in the context of the elimination phase. Our findings indicate that populations in Honduras are more homogeneous compared to . The multilocus sequence typing (MLST) approach, using four loci from and , proved more effective in assessing the genetic diversity of than individual marker analyses. No geographical clustering was observed for haplotypes, either within Honduras or globally. In Honduras, appears to be under more effective control, while presents a greater challenge due to its higher genetic diversity. This requires enhanced surveillance, targeted control strategies, and measures to prevent the reintroduction of variants. The isolates of also displayed a wild-type phenotype, suggesting susceptibility to chloroquine.