Korean J Parasitol.  2013 Oct;51(5):557-562.

A Case of Plasmodium ovale wallikeri Infection in a Chinese Worker Returning from West Africa

• Li Y
• Wang G
• Sun D
• Meng F
• Lin S
• Hu X
• Wang S

Abstract

In contrast to the gradual reduction in the number of locally transmitted malaria cases in China, the number of imported malaria cases has been increasing since 2008. Here, we report a case of a 39-year-old Chinese man who acquired Plasmodium ovale wallikeri infection while staying in Ghana, West Africa for 6 months in 2012. Microscopic examinations of Giemsa-stained thin and thick blood smears indicated Plasmodium vivax infection. However, the results of rapid diagnostic tests, which were conducted 3 times, were not in agreement with P. vivax. To further check the diagnosis, standard PCR analysis of the small-subunit rRNA gene was conducted, based on which a phylogeny tree was constructed. The results of gene sequencing indicated that this malaria is a variant of P. ovale (P. ovale wallikeri). The infection in this patient was not a new infection, but a relapse of the infection from the one that he had contracted in West Africa.

Keyword

Plasmodium ovale wallikeri; imported malaria; case report; China

MeSH Terms

Adult
Azure Stains
Base Sequence
China
DNA, Protozoan/chemistry/genetics
DNA, Ribosomal/chemistry/genetics
Ghana
Humans
Malaria/*diagnosis/parasitology
Male
Molecular Sequence Data
Phylogeny
Plasmodium ovale/*classification/genetics/isolation & purification
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Recurrence
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Travel
Azure Stains
DNA, Protozoan
DNA, Ribosomal