RESUMO
Data are lacking on the specific diseases to which great apes are susceptible and the transmission dynamics and overall impact of these diseases. We examined the prevalence of Plasmodium spp. infections in semicaptive orangutans housed at the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, by using a combination of microscopic and DNA molecular techniques to identify the Plasmodium spp. in each animal. Previous studies indicated 2 orangutan-specific Plasmodium spp., but our data show 4 Plasmodium spp. These findings provide evidence for P. vivax transmission between humans and orangutans and for P. cynomolgi transmission between macaques and orangutans. These data have potential implications for the conservation of orangutans and also for the bidirectional transmission of parasites between orangutans and humans visiting or living in the region.
Assuntos
Doenças dos Símios Antropoides/parasitologia , Macaca , Malária/transmissão , Malária/veterinária , Doenças dos Macacos/parasitologia , Plasmodium/isolamento & purificação , Pongo pygmaeus , Animais , Doenças dos Símios Antropoides/epidemiologia , Doenças dos Símios Antropoides/transmissão , Conservação dos Recursos Naturais , DNA de Protozoário/química , DNA de Protozoário/genética , Feminino , Humanos , Indonésia/epidemiologia , Malária/epidemiologia , Malária/parasitologia , Masculino , Doenças dos Macacos/epidemiologia , Doenças dos Macacos/transmissão , Parasitemia/parasitologia , Parasitemia/veterinária , Filogenia , Plasmodium/genética , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase/veterinária , Prevalência , RNA Ribossômico 18S/química , RNA Ribossômico 18S/genéticaRESUMO
Antimicrobial peptides are major components of the innate immune response of epithelial cells. In insect vectors, these peptides may play a role in the control of gut pathogens. We have analyzed antimicrobial peptides produced by the sand fly Phlebotomus duboscqi, after challenge by injected bacteria or feeding with bacteria or the protozoan parasite Leishmania major. A new hemolymph peptide with antimicrobial activity was identified and shown to be a member of the insect defensin family. Interestingly, this defensin exhibits an antiparasitic activity against the promastigote forms of L. major, which reside normally within the sand fly midgut. P. duboscqi defensin could be induced by both hemolymph or gut infections. Defensin mRNA was induced following infection by wild-type L. major, and this induction was much less following infections with L. major knockout mutants that survive poorly in sand flies, due to specific deficiencies in abundant cell surface glycoconjugates containing phosphoglycans (including lipophosphoglycan). The ability of gut pathogens to induce gut as well as fat body expression of defensin raises the possibility that this antimicrobial peptide might play a key role in the development of parasitic infections.