Plasmodium vivax Malaria Viewed through the Lens of an Eradicated European Strain.

ABSTRACT: The protozoan Plasmodium vivax is responsible for 42% of all cases of malaria outside Africa. The parasite is currently largely restricted to tropical and subtropical latitudes in Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. Though, it was historically present in most of Europe before being finally eradicated during the second half of the 20th century. The lack of genomic information on the extinct European lineage has prevented a clear understanding of historical population structuring and past migrations of P. vivax. We used medical microscope slides prepared in 1944 from malaria-affected patients from the Ebro Delta in Spain, one of the last footholds of malaria in Europe, to generate a genome of a European P. vivax strain. Population genetics and phylogenetic analyses placed this strain basal to a

SUBMITTER: van Dorp L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7038659 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature