ABSTRACT
Plasmodium malariae, a neglected human malaria parasite, contributes up to 10% of malaria infections in sub-Saharan Africa (sSA). Though P. malariae infection is considered clinically benign, it presents mostly as coinfections with the dominant P. falciparum. Completion of its reference genome has paved the way to further understand its biology and interactions with the human host, including responses to antimalarial interventions. We characterized 75 P. malariae isolates from seven endemic countries in sSA using highly divergent microsatellites. The P. malariae infections were highly diverse and five subpopulations from three ancestries (independent of origin of isolates) were determined. Sequences of 11 orthologous antimalarial resistance genes, identified low frequency single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), strong linkage disequilibrium between loci that may be due to antimalarial drug selection. At least three sub-populations were detectable from a subset of denoised SNP data from mostly the mitochondrial cytochrome b coding region. This evidence of diversity and selection calls for including P. malariae in malaria genomic surveillance towards improved tools and strategies for malaria elimination.
Subject(s)
Malaria , Plasmodium malariae , Humans , Africa South of the Sahara , Antimalarials/therapeutic use , Malaria/parasitology , Microsatellite Repeats , Plasmodium malariae/genetics , Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide , Drug Resistance/geneticsABSTRACT
The present investigation aimed to assess the prevalence of genotypes of C. albicans in Ouagadougou and to analyze the relationship between the genetic diversity and antifungal susceptibility. Ninety-six clinical strains are included. They were diagnosed as C. albicans using germ tube test, chlamydospore formation, and Api-Candida test. Genotyping was performed using PCR targeting 25S rDNA. Antifungal susceptibilities were tested based on the disk diffusion method. The genotypes A (85.4%) was predominant followed by genotypes B (10.4%) and C (4.2%). The highest resistance rate with genotype A was obtained with fluconazole (74.4%). A resistance to amphotericin B was observed with genotypes A (29.3%) and B (30%).