Bird Malaria Parasites Found in Malay Peninsula

Abstract

Bird malaria parasites have never been described from the Malay Peninsula, as far as the author is aware, although some were reported from the East Indies by Uegaki (1930) and others. The observations on avian plasmodia which are reported here, were made by the author while working in the Institute for Medical Research, Kuala Lumpur, Federated Malay States, in 1945.Avian plasmodia were obtained from seven kinds of wild birds which were captured in the vicinity of the city of Kuala Lumpur. The species of plasmodia and their hosts are listed below.Three species of parasites, Plasmodium relictum, P. circumflexum and P. lophurae, were found in 198 hosts belonging to seven species. The infection rate averaged 19.2 per cent. The highest rate was estimated as 69.6 per cent, and was found in the case of P. circumflexum and Munia striata. Most of the hosts were very heavily infected.