vivax

Hypnozoites are dormant forms in the life cycles of certain parasitic protozoa that belong to the Phylum Apicomplexa (Sporozoa) and are best known for their probable association with latency and relapse in human malarial infections caused by Plasmodium ovale and P. vivax. 

The findings suggest that RDTs and PCR may have good performance characteristics to serve as alternatives for the diagnosis of malaria in pregnancy, besides any other limitations and practical considerations concerning the use of these tests.

Current molecular data show an extraordinarily high frequency of drug-resistance mutations in both P. falciparum and P. vivax in southern Ethiopia

Resistance of the non-dividing P. cynomolgi forms to atovaquone and pyrimethamine, which do not prevent relapses, strongly suggests that these slow growing forms are hypnozoites.

The qPCR assay developed proved optimal for detection of all four Plasmodium species.

This test demonstrated excellent sensitivity and specificity, and adds P. knowlesi to the repertoire of Plasmodium targets for the clinical diagnosis of malaria by real-time PCR assays.

Human malaria is caused by four human-host restricted or adapted species of the genus Plasmodium, listed here in their order of risk for causing severe disease Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium malariae – or so we thought.

The present data suggest the need for improving microscopy diagnosis method and the clinician should also have careful clinical observation, along with the reports on Giemsa-stained thick blood films, particularly in summer time when P. vivax is predominant.

False positive Pv-pLDH lines in P. falciparum samples with high parasite density occurred in 6/9 P. vivax-specific RDTs. This is of concern as P. falciparum and P. vivax are co-circulating in many regions. The diagnosis of life-threatening P. falciparum malaria may be missed (two-band Pv-pLDH RDT), or the patient may be treated incorrectly with primaquine (three- or four-band RDTs).

In many hemolytic disorders, such as malaria, the release of free heme has been involved in the triggering of oxidative stress and tissue damage. Patients presenting with severe forms of malaria commonly have impaired regulatory responses.