Kf. Laserson et al., Genetic characterization of an epidemic of Plasmodium falciparum malaria among Yanomami Amerindians, J INFEC DIS, 180(6), 1999, pp. 2081-2085
Malaria parasites are genetically diverse at all levels of endemicity. In c
ontrast, the merozoite surface protein (MSP) alleles in samples from 2 isol
ated populations of Yanomami Amerindians during an epidemic of Plasmodium f
alciparum were identical. The nonvariable restriction fragment length polym
orphism patterns further suggested that the sequential outbreak comprised o
nly a single P. falciparum genotype, By examination of serial samples from
single human infections, the MSP characteristics were found to remain const
ant throughout the course of infection. An apparent clonal population struc
ture of parasites seemed to cause outbreaks in small isolated villages. The
use of standard molecular epidemiologic methods to measure genetic diversi
ty in malaria revealed the occurrence of a genetically monomorphic populati
on of falciparum within a human community.