afrol News, 19 January - Researchers have found the parasite which causes malignant malaria in humans from the faeces of the wild gorillas in Cameroon and blood from a captive gorilla in Gabon.

Research findings published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal said as the human population around the world focuses on logging, and the general destruction of forests brings a greater risk that humans will start to come in contact with wildlife that have been displaced from the ecosystems that they call home.

It was believed that humans alone can carry this malignant disease, and this is the first evidence that the findings of the research revealed it exist amongst the animal population.

“Currently, there’s little information about how the disease spreads and if it can in fact be transmitted between species - such as human to gorilla or vice versa,” research findings revealed.

New genetic sampling techniques allowed scientists from France, Cameroon, Gabon and the US to examine evidence of malaria parasites in the faecal matter of wild gorillas and chimpanzees in Cameroon.

DNA evidence of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malignant malaria in humans, was found in faecal samples from two gorilla subspecies, the highly endangered cross-river gorilla and the western lowland gorilla.

Malaria parasites were first identified in chimpanzees and gorillas in Africa by scientists working in the 1920s.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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