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Malaria outbreak among Guatemalan peacekeepers traced to Congo
Genetic analyses confirmed that an outbreak of drug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria among Guatemalan peacekeeping soldiers was imported from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to recent findings.
Researchers investigated a 2010 outbreak of malaria affecting 12 soldiers upon their return from a U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Congo. The outbreak investigation was initiated after one of the soldiers had died; subsequent serum tests from the patient revealed chloroquine-resistant and chloroquine-sensitive strains of P. falciparum malaria.
Although the epidemiologic evidence indicated that the soldiers acquired the infection while stationed in the Congo, it was necessary for the purposes of local treatment protocols to determine whether it might have been acquired in endemic sites in Guatemala. The researchers utilized molecular techniques associated with the field of population genetics to establish the origin of this malaria outbreak.
They compared the genetic relatedness of parasites found in the soldiers with specimens from adult residents of the Congo and children and adults from private malaria surveillance studies conducted in Guatemala.
According to the researchers, the parasite samples from the soldiers were much more closely related to those from the Congo than to parasites found in Guatemala.
Phylogenetic analysis determined with 99.9% confidence that that the parasites in the affected soldiers were part of the Congo parasite population and that the Guatemala parasites were distinct from the other two populations.
“Here we have demonstrated the use of molecular tools to conclusively identify the source of a parasite population during an outbreak investigation,” the researchers wrote. “Because of the extreme minimal diversity of the parasites from Guatemala, we were able to triangulate the source of the outbreak with high statistical significance.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.