Scientists have discovered the first-ever malaria parasite known to live in a deer species which is the only native malaria parasite found in any mammal in North or South America.
Scientists have discovered the first-ever malaria parasite known to live in a deer species which is the only native malaria parasite found in any mammal in North or South America. The parasite, Plasmodium odocoilei, infects up to 25 per cent of white-tailed deer along the East Coast of US, researchers said.
Though white-tailed deer diseases have been heavily studie, scientist had not noticed that many have malaria parasites.
“It is a parasite that has been hidden in the most iconic game animal in the United States. I just stumbled across it,” said Ellen Martinsen from Smithsonian Conser-vation Biology Institute who led the study.
There is little danger to people from this newly-discovered deer malaria, but it underlines the fact that many human health concerns are connected to wider ecological systems - and that understanding the biology of other species is a foundation to both conservation and public health management, researchers said.
They discovered that the deer malaria is widespread — though “cryptic” because the parasites occur in very low levels in many of the infected deer.
Using sensitive molecular Polymerase Chain Reaction techniques to understand the genetics, researchers confirmed a high prevalence of the disease — between 18 and 25 per cent — in sites ranging from New York to West Virginia to Louisiana.
“The new discovery fundamentally changes our understanding of the distribution and evolutionary history of malaria parasites in mammals,” said Ms Martinsen.
