Abstract
Plasmodium was first identified in a goat in Angola in 1923, and only recently characterized by DNA isolation from a goat blood sample in Zambia. Goats were first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent approximately 10,000 years ago, and are now globally distributed. It is not known if the Plasmodium identified in African goats originated from parasites circulating in the local ungulates, or if it co-evolved in the goat before its domestication. To address this question, we performed PCR-based surveillance using a total of 1,299 goat blood samples collected from Sudan and Kenya in Africa, Iran in west Asia, and Myanmar and Thailand in southeast Asia. Plasmodium DNA was detected from all locations, suggesting that the parasite is not limited to Africa, but widely distributed. Whole mitochondrial DNA sequences revealed that there was only one nucleotide substitution between Zambian/Kenyan samples and others, supporting the existence of a goat-specific Plasmodium species, presumably Plasmodium caprae, rather than infection of goats by local ungulate malaria parasites. We also present the first photographic images of P. caprae, from one Kenyan goat sample.
Highlights
Plasmodium was first identified in a goat in Angola in 1923, and only recently characterized by DNA isolation from a goat blood sample in Zambia
In addition to human malaria, which remains a burden of morbidity and mortality in the world, malaria parasite species infect a wide range of hosts including non-human primate, rodent, ungulate, chiroptera, avian, and reptile[1,2]
Ungulate malaria parasites were first reported from antelope and grey duiker in 1913 (P. cephalophi)[3], followed by a second parasite reported from grey duikers (P. brucei), and additional descriptions including goat (P. caprae), water buffalo (P. bubalis), mouse deer (P. traguli), and North American white-tailed deer (P. odocoilei)[4,5,6,7,8,9]
Summary
Plasmodium was first identified in a goat in Angola in 1923, and only recently characterized by DNA isolation from a goat blood sample in Zambia. Ungulate malaria parasites were first reported from antelope and grey duiker in 1913 (P. cephalophi)[3], followed by a second parasite reported from grey duikers (P. brucei), and additional descriptions including goat (P. caprae), water buffalo (P. bubalis), mouse deer (P. traguli), and North American white-tailed deer (P. odocoilei)[4,5,6,7,8,9]. Long after these microscopic observations, in 2016, three studies independently reported the first Plasmodium DNA sequences from ungulates. In this study, we conducted a molecular and morphological surveillance of malaria parasites in goat samples obtained from countries in southeast Asia, west Asia, and Africa, to investigate the distribution of goat malaria parasites, perform comparisons of DNA sequences, and describe intraerythrocytic morphology
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