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Malaria Infection Harms Wild African Apes
An ape. Malaria infection can cause anemia and weight loss in bonobos. [iStockphoto] Endangered great apes get malaria, just like humans. New evidence from wild bonobos shows the infection harms them, too.
New research has revealed that wild bonobos, an endangered great ape species, can contract malaria, a disease previously thought to affect only humans.
The study, conducted by scientists at Washington University in St. Louis, found that malaria infection can cause anemia and weight loss in bonobos, leading to a higher risk of death.
The discovery of malaria in great apes is a cause for concern as these animals are already facing multiple threats to their survival, including habitat loss and poaching.
The new evidence is concerning for endangered great apes, who are already at risk due to multiple threats to their survival.
Scientists know that malaria infection is widespread across the geographic ranges of wild chimpanzees and gorillas in fact, the African great apes harbour at least 12 different Plasmodium species, seven of which are closely related to the human parasite that causes about 95 per cent of human deaths.
But a certain kind of ape, the bonobo, so far has escaped infection in all but two locations where researchers have studied them in the wild.
Scientists compared infected populations - where 38 per cent of bonobos had detectable parasite DNA in their faeces - to uninfected bonobos from 10 other sites across their natural range in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Scientists are now calling for urgent action to prevent the spread of malaria among wild great apes and protect their habitats.
"We don't yet have a good handle on the symptoms and mortality risk," said Emily Wroblewski, an assistant professor of biological anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.
Emmy said the number of infected animals in captivity that have exhibited disease symptoms has been limited. Sometimes they show symptoms like fever and other things that might be associated with the infection, and sometimes not. And in the wild, these things are very difficult to track.
Kenyan scientists who spoke to The Standard observed that malaria is a devastating disease caused by parasites transmitted through the bites of infected mosquitoes. For humans, symptoms start out mild - fever, headache and chills - but malaria infection can be fatal within 24 hours.
However, Dr Stephen Ngulu a Wildlife veterinarian and Head of Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia observed that for apes, little is known about what malaria sickness looks like, or how deadly it is.
Ngulu explained that malaria has not been managed in free-ranging primates in Kenya including chimpanzees in captivity.
He, however, observed that a number of chimpanzees in Uganda, DRC and Sierra Leone living in tropical forests, have contracted malaria, killing the animals.
He noted that Chimpanzees are native to Africa, and not to any other continent.
The current populations in the wild range between 100,000 and 150,000. The population is dwindling because of anthropogenic activities that include habitat destruction, forest logging, climate change, poaching for bushmeat and habitat loss.
Currently, Kenya has 30 chimpanzees in captivity with no wild chimps, of whom no malaria cases have been detected.
According to Dr Mercy Akinyi, a primate veterinarian at the Institute of Primates Research (IPR) in Nairobi, when a primate gets infected with malaria, they administer the same medication that is administered to humans.
"We modify the dosages and then administer them to the primates. Whenever a primate has malaria disease, the first line of treatment is what's given to humans," Akinyi said.
She however said health monitoring for primates in wildlife is difficult. "And there are no clear studies showing primates in the wild get sick from Malaria and its severity."
She explained that this is however different in experimentation where a subset of primates is given a particular malaria parasite known as zoonotic malaria.
"Zoonotic malaria is malaria that is shared between primates and humans," she said.
The study indicates that the number of infected animals in captivity that have exhibited disease symptoms has been limited.
"Sometimes they show symptoms like fever and other things that might be associated with infection, and sometimes not. And in the wild, these things are very difficult to track," read the study in part.
This difference gives the researchers an opportunity to try to figure out some basic facts about how malaria impacts the health and mortality of great apes.
"Understanding the natural history and transmission patterns of malaria in our closest relatives is critical to gauge future transmissions," said Beatrice Hahn from the University of Pennsylvania, has documented the patterns of malarial infection in the great apes over recent decades.
This research avoided any handling or other disturbance of wild bonobos because the DNA used for sequencing was extracted from faeces that were collected after they were deposited.
The scientists were particularly intrigued to observe that the immunogenetic pattern observed in infected bonobos is very similar to what is observed among human populations experiencing malaria infection in Africa.
"This is notable because these immune genes evolve very rapidly while trying to keep up with rapidly evolving pathogens," Wroblewski said. "Because of this, it is very unusual to observe a pattern that is shared between humans and their closest living relatives."
She said that scientists should further investigate how this particular immune gene variant protects individuals - both bonobo and human - because understanding that mechanism might lead to an additional source of treatment or vaccination for humans.
It's also important to understand how diseases are affecting the apes because they are endangered species. The disease is always a threat to their survival as they come under more and more pressure from human activity.
"With the numerous ways in which each host could adapt in response to their infection," Wroblewski said, "I find it remarkable that both humans and bonobos respond to their infection in the same way."
Malaria Deaths Soar In Shadow Of Ethiopia Conflict
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — Lema Tefera's voice broke as he described losing four children to malaria in just one month — deaths that could likely have been prevented if not for the conflict in Ethiopia's Oromia region.
"There was no malaria medication and treatment in our village due to the fighting," the farmer told AFP by phone.
Africa accounts for about 95% of the 250 million malaria cases and more than 600,000 deaths across the globe each year, according to the World Health Organization.
Experts say the situation is worsening in Ethiopia's most populous region, Oromia, where a conflict has been raging between the government and a rebel group — the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) — since 2018, severely disrupting health services.
Doctors, experts, and aid workers told AFP fatal cases were surging thanks to the "perfect storm" of climate change and violence.
Subsistence farmers like Lema, a father of seven before the disease took his children, are particularly vulnerable.
"It was the worst situation I have ever experienced," said Lema, who lives in the small western village of Lalistu Lophi.
'Supplies disrupted'
Lema's family make up just four of the roughly 7.3 million malaria cases and 1,157 deaths recorded by the WHO in Ethiopia between January and October last year.
The figures have doubled since 2023, and Oromia accounts for almost half the cases and deaths.
The sprawling region, which covers more than a third of Ethiopia, has witnessed a collapse of health facilities, said Gemechu Biftu, executive director of the Oromia Physicians Association.
"Programmed supplies of anti-malarial drugs have been disrupted due to the armed conflict," he said.
There is no end to the fighting in sight: the government classifies the OLA a terrorist organization, and peace talks in Tanzania in 2023 failed.
Legesse Bulcha, the director of the Nejo General Hospital in West Wollega, one of the worst-hit areas, said malaria cases had surged in the past three years.
He said malaria accounted for 70% of the 26,000 patients his small hospital treated in 2023-2024, up from no more than 20% before that.
While conflict had disrupted access to medicine, he said a changing climate was also playing a part.
Experts warn warming temperatures will create more of the warmer, wetter conditions in which malaria-spreading mosquitos thrive.
"Unlike before, there are still significant numbers of cases during the dry season," said Legesse.
Gemechu agreed, noting tests had shown not only rising mortality rates but that malaria was "expanding to new areas".
'Perfect storm'
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Ethiopia coordinator Rachelle Seguin said 2024 saw the country's "highest numbers of malaria cases seen, probably ever."
"I think it's a little bit the perfect storm: you have increasing temperatures, you've had conflict in the country for years," she said.
As the next rainy season approaches in June-September, Seguin said she fears the coming year "could be even worse."
The problem will not be helped by the sudden U.S. Aid funding freeze ordered by President Donald Trump.
"The recent USAID funding cut would significantly increase morbidity and mortality not only from malaria but also from other communicable illnesses for which the agency has been providing significant funding," Nuredin Luke, an Oromia-based doctor, told AFP.
The U.S. Government had previously provided some 40 % of the annual funding globally for control and research into malaria. It is unclear if this will resume.
In his isolated village, thousands of miles from Washington, Lema remains struck down with sorrow.
Unable to farm, he has had to rely on relatives to survive.
"I have been completely depressed," he said. "I have not been able to recover from the grief."
Death Toll Rises As Cases Of Mystery Illness In Congo Reaches 1000
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Your support makes all the difference.Read moreHealth officials are still trying to understand what may be behind a mystery disease outbreak that has surpassed 1,000 cases and killed at least 60 people in northwest Congo.
Nearly 1,100 cases have been reported since the outbreaks were first discovered in two villages more than 100 miles apart in late January, and the death toll has risen by at least seven in recent days.
While malaria — a mosquito-borne disease — is prevalent in Congo's Equateur province, the World Health Organization has not yet ruled out other causes.
The U.N. Health agency said in an update Thursday that It is unclear if the outbreaks are related.
"Detailed epidemiological and clinical investigations, as well as further laboratory testing, are (still) needed," WHO's Africa office said.
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MAPPED: How the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has unfoldedAfrica's top public health agency said infections have been detected in at least five villages and the agency is investigating whether water or food could be the cause of the infections, along with flu and typhoid.
However, tests are "pointing toward malaria," Dr. Ngashi Ngongo of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an online briefing on Thursday.
The first infections - and their symptomsThe first outbreak was detected in the village of Boloko after three children ate a bat and died within 48 hours.
WHO has recorded 12 cases and eight deaths in Boloko. Nearly half of the people who died did so within hours of the onset of symptoms, health officials said this week.
The village of Bomate, which is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Boloko, has been hardest hit: 98 per cent of the cases and 86 per cent of deaths have been recorded in Bomate in the Basankusu health zone, WHO said. Of 571 patients in Basankusu who were tested for malaria, 309 — 54.1 per cent — tested positive, it said.
Patients have shown common malaria symptoms such as fever and body aches. Other symptoms include chills, sweating, stiff neck, runny or bleeding nose, cough, vomiting and diarrhoea.
Sickness breeds fear among residentsEddy Djoboke said he and his family fled Bomate because they were afraid of falling sick. After they left, one of his children complained his neck and stomach hurt, suggesting he may have been infected before they fled.
"We were asked to have tests done and we are waiting for what happens next," Djoboke said.
Marthe Biyombe, said her child became infected in Bomate and was suffering from body aches and fever. She said the hospital struggled to treat her child because of a lack of medication, but that she was able to buy drugs privately and WHO doctors eventually arrived with more supplies.
"When we arrived at the hospital, we went two weeks without medicine. There were no medicines and we bought the medicines elsewhere (before) the WHO doctors came and started giving us the medicines," Biyombe said. She did not describe the drugs given to her child.
Experts say access to the sick has been hindered by the remote locations of the affected villages and that several people died before medical teams were able to reach them.
CDC team assisting with Texas measles outbreak as case total rises
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