FIRST PHYLOGENETIC EVIDENCE OF Plasmodium malariae FROM NORTHEAST REGION OF INDIA

The Northeastern region of India is highly malarious particularly with Plasmodium (P.) falciparum along with some amount of P. vivax infection. Information about the distribution of P. malariae in this region is scanty and only a few reports are available. Tripura, one of the north-eastern states has recently experienced a malaria outbreak in 2014. During this outbreak, the presence of P. malariae infection has been suspected and a study has been made to identify the same by molecular tools. A total of thirty one blood samples from suspected malaria patients were obtained from Takarjala community health centre and Khowai hospital of Tripura during this outbreak. Blood samples were examined with Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) for the presence of P. falciparum infection. All blood samples were also found positive for P. falciparum infection in microscopic examination. However, two samples out of these were found to have co-infection suspected to be of P. malariae. Presence of P. malariae co-infection was confirmed through adopted Nested PCR protocol and further validated by DNA sequencing. Phylogenetic study based on 18S rRNA sequence revealed that these two P. malariae isolates have close proximity with isolates from Japan and Uganda. This first molecular evidence of P. malarie co-infection from Tripura confirms the sporadic distribution of this parasite in N.E. region. Existence of P. malariae infection in this state may have an epidemiological implication for management of this new focus contributing slowly for the malaria case burden in those areas