In vivo susceptibility of plasmodium vivax to chloroquine in Southeastern Iran

Plasmodium vivax is the predominant species causes of malaria with about 90% total annual reported malaria in Iran. This study conducted to determine the susceptibility of Plasmodium vivax isolates to chloroquine in Sistan and Balochistan Province, southeastern Iran. A total 270 subjects with symptomatic malaria and confirmed P. vivax infection completed the designed 28-day in vivo study. The thick and thin film blood smears were screened for malaria parasites by microscopy. The nested PCR was applied using the Plasmodium 18 subunit ribosomal ribonucleic [Ssr RNA] genes for detecting mixed infections and diagnosis of parasites in the samples with low parasite on days 0, 5, 6, 7, and 28. P. vivax was cleared in 15%, 50%, 95%, and 100% of patients on days 1, 2, 3, 4 respectively by microscopy assessment. Six patients were exhibited specific P. vivax band in nested PCR on day 5. No recurrence was observed on days 7, 14 and 28. Mean [ +/- standard deviation] parasite clearance time was 2.41 [ +/- 0.8] days. P. vivax is still susceptible to chloroquine in Southeastern Iran. This finding is compatible with results of neighboring countries Pakistan and Afghanistan

Allelic dimorphism of the Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte binding antigen-175 [EBA-175] gene in the southeast of Iran

The erythrocyte binding antigen 175 kDa [EBA-175] gene is located on chromosome 7. It encodes protein that binds to specific receptor glycophorin A on the erythrocyte surface during invasion. It has a dimorphic nature [FCR3 and CAMP]. This study was designed to determine the distribution of EBA-175 alleles of Plasmodium falciparum in the southeast of Iran. We used the nested PCR method with specific primers, which improves the two fragments of the EBA-175 gene. Sixty eight microscopically positive blood samples were collected from the infected falciparum malaria subjects in the southeast of Iran. In this study which marks the first one in Iran, CAMP strains [714 bp] and FCR-3 strains [795 bp] were found in 14 [37.8%] and 23 [62.2%] in the originally Iranian subjects and in 10 [32.3%] and 19 [61.3%] Pakistani infected migrants respectively. Two migrant cases [6.4%] had mix CAMP/FCR-3 infection. The two fragments of dimorphic EBA-175 gene were observed and the FCR-3 allele was more prevalent in Iran. There was no significant correlation between one of the EBA-175 alleles and the subject group in the mentioned region. This distributional pattern should be considered in designing to control P. falciparum malaria in the region

Genetic diversity in the circumsporozoite protein gene of plasmodium falciparum from major endemic regions of Iran

Circumsporozoite protein [CSP] is one of the stage specific antigens, which is used for the development of vaccines and to investigate the genetic diversity in Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasite. Polymerase chain reaction was used for typing of CSP genes on 67 positive falciparum malaria patients from Sistan and Baluchistan Province of Iran. Three fragments were detected for CSP gene. Twenty, 38 and 4 samples showed 700, 750 and 800 bp fragments, respectively. Sequences of some samples were aligned and compared with P.falciparum csp gene in gene bank. While the falciparum malaria endemic region of Iran is classified in low to moderate group but, extensive polymorphism was observed in the samples that could be taken into account in designing malaria vaccine