Non-invasive surveillance for Plasmodium in reservoir macaque species

Malaria Journal

Methodology

Christina L. Faust¹  Andrew P. Dobson¹  Josephine E. Siregar²  Lydia S. Murdiyarso²  Lis Rosmanah³  Diah Iskandriati³  Uus Saepuloh³ 

[1] Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, 08544, Princeton, NJ, USA;Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, Jakarta, Indonesia;Pusat Studi Satwa Primata, Institut Pertanian Bogor, Bogor, Indonesia;

关键词: Malaria;    Macaca fascicularis;    Macaca nemestrina;    Non-invasive sampling;    Zoonotic surveillance;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12936-015-0857-2

 received in 2015-06-14, accepted in 2015-08-22,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPrimates are important reservoirs for human diseases, but their infection status and disease dynamics are difficult to track in the wild. Within the last decade, a macaque malaria, Plasmodium knowlesi, has caused disease in hundreds of humans in Southeast Asia. In order to track cases and understand zoonotic risk, it is imperative to be able to quantify infection status in reservoir macaque species. In this study, protocols for the collection of non-invasive samples and isolation of malaria parasites from naturally infected macaques are optimized.MethodsPaired faecal and blood samples from 60 Macaca fascicularis and four Macaca nemestrina were collected. All animals came from Sumatra or Java and were housed in semi-captive breeding colonies around West Java. DNA was extracted from samples using a modified protocol. Nested polymerase chain reactions (PCR) were run to detect Plasmodium using primers targeting mitochondrial DNA. Sensitivity of screening faecal samples for Plasmodium was compared to other studies using Kruskal Wallis tests and logistic regression models.ResultsThe best primer set was 96.7 % (95 % confidence intervals (CI): 83.3–99.4 %) sensitive for detecting Plasmodium  in faecal samples of naturally infected macaques (n = 30). This is the first study to produce definitive estimates of Plasmodium sensitivity and specificity in faecal samples from naturally infected hosts. The sensitivity was significantly higher than some other studies involving wild primates.ConclusionsFaecal samples can be used for detection of malaria infection in field surveys of macaques, even when there are no parasites visible in thin blood smears. Repeating samples from individuals will improve inferences of the epidemiology of malaria in wild primates.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Siregar et al. 2015