‘Invisible’ species of malaria that hides inside body discovered by scientists in Tanzania

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‘Invisible’ species of malaria that hides inside body discovered by scientists in Tanzania

9:36 CAT | 16 May 2019

A worker of the Entomologist Research Centre, Kenya, takes a mosquito to analyse it for the presence of malaria parasite. Tanzania's malaria prevalence rate has declined over the past few years. [File photo: AFP/Cristina Aldehuela]

Scientists in Tanzania have discovered that a species of malaria can live in the body for decades without showing any clinical signs, but still manage to contribute to the transmission of malaria in the country.

In a study published last week in Malaria Journal, the researchers reported two men who tested positive for Palcifarum malariae, confirming a suspicion in the scientific community that the human malaria species can live in the body for an extended period of time.

The two healthy looking men aged 20 and 22 were from Bagamoyo, the town in which Ifakara Health Institute, which was part of the study is located.

The men were part of an ongoing study that was testing the efficacy of a vaccine. They underwent a battery of tests to rule out any possibility of other diseases.

Lead investigator Tobias Schindler, at the Department of Medical Parasitology and Infection Biology, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Switzerland, wrote to The EastAfrican: It is not sure if asymptomatic cases of Palcifarum malariae infections ever will develop symptoms…there are cases where people lived for decades with this parasite without any reports of malaria-like symptoms.”

Prof Schindler said that while the mechanisms that this species uses to hide are still unclear, it is well adapted to humans and avoids detection by the immune system.

By Verah Okeyo

Source: The East African