Research
Multiple host-switching of Haemosporidia parasites in bats
1 Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, USM 504 et UMR 5202, 55-61 rue Buffon, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
2 Institut Pasteur du Cambodge, Unité Epidémiologie moléculaire, 5, Boulevard Monivong, BP 983, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
3 Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UR 77, 213 rue La Fayette, 75480 Paris Cedex 10, France
4 Hungarian Natural History Museum, Department of Zoology, H-1083 Budapest, Ludovika tér 2, Hungary
5 Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, Unité Paludisme, BP 1274, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar
6 Wildlife Conservation Society, Cambodia Program, #21, St 21 Sangkat Tonlé Bassac, Khan Chamkarmorn, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
7 Phnom Tamao Zoo and Wildlife Rescue Center, Department of Forestry and Wildlife, 40 Norodom Boulevard, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
8 Care for Confiscated Wild Life, WildAid, St 99, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
9 Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605, USA
10 WWF, BP 738, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar
Malaria Journal 2007, 6:157 doi:10.1186/1475-2875-6-157
Published: 29 November 2007Abstract
Background
There have been reported cases of host-switching in avian and lizard species of Plasmodium (Apicomplexa, Haemosporidia), as well as in those infecting different primate species. However, no evidence has previously been found for host-swapping between wild birds and mammals.
Methods
This paper presents the results of the sampling of blood parasites of wild-captured bats from Madagascar and Cambodia. The presence of Haemosporidia infection in these animals is confirmed and cytochrome b gene sequences were used to construct a phylogenetic analysis.
Results
Results reveal at least three different and independent Haemosporidia evolutionary histories in three different bat lineages from Madagascar and Cambodia.
Conclusion
Phylogenetic analysis strongly suggests multiple host-switching of Haemosporidia parasites in bats with those from avian and primate hosts.
