Malaria Protection in Chimpanzees

May 29, 2013 — In malaria regions the parasite prevalence in the human body as well as malaria-related morbidity and mortality decrease with age. This reflects the progressive mounting of a protective immunity. Researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the Robert Koch-Institute now present a study which addresses the age distribution of malaria parasite infection in a group of wild chimpanzees.

To this end the researchers collected 141 faecal samples from seven female and twelve male wild chimpanzees from Taï National Park, Cote d'Ivoire. At time of sampling the animals' ages ranged between 3 and 47 years. The researchers extracted DNA from the faecal samples, analysed it and so identified the malaria parasite-positive samples. "In the course of this 2-month study almost every individual chimpanzee of the group was found positive at least once," says Hélène De Nys of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the Robert Koch-Institute. "Our data further suggest that at every point in time at least one individual of this chimpanzee group is infected."

Further analyses showed that malaria parasites were detected more often in younger than in older animals. Whether these were female or male, however, did not make a difference. "This is the first indication that epidemiological characteristics of malaria parasite infection in wild chimpanzee populations might be comparable to those in human populations," says Roman Wittig of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. "As in humans, the development of acquired immunity likely plays an important role in wild chimpanzees as well."

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