Uncommon malaria spreading in Malaysia
Parasite’s jump from monkeys to people seems aided by deforestation
By Nathan Seppa
NEW ORLEANS — A form of malaria found in wild monkeys has begun to infect people so often in parts of Southeast Asia that it has become the leading cause of malaria in Malaysia.
The Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah on the island of Borneo have shown a surge in infections with the parasite Plasmodium knowlesi, which is carried by long-tailed and pig-tailed macaques. P. knowlesi now accounts for nearly 70 percent of malaria cases in people there, Balbir Singh, director of the Malaria Research Center at the University of Malaysia in Sarawak, reported November 3 at a meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.