TABLE 3.
Characteristics of P. ovale samples and efficacy of detection by different PCR-based protocols
| Age (yr) | Country of origin | Country visited | Latencya (mo) | Parasitemia (%) | Microscopy resultb | PCR result
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus-specific PCR (NP-2002) | P. ovale, NP-1993c | P. ovale, NP-2002 | P. ovale, NP-2005 | Other species, NP-2002b | ||||||
| 40 | Italy | Senegal | 5 | − | − | + | + | + | + | − |
| 4 | Ghana | Ghana | NAe | <0.01 | Pf | + | + | + | + | − |
| NA | Italy | Africad | 24 | 0.064 | Pv | + | + | + | + | − |
| 24 | Mozambique | Mozambique | NA | 0.2 | Pv | + | + | + | + | − |
| NA | Italy | NA | NA | 0.1 | Pv | + | + | + | + | − |
| 27 | NA | NA | NA | <0.1 | Pv | + | + | + | + | − |
| 22 | Italy | Ghana | NA | 0.14 | Pv | + | + | + | + | − |
| 26 | Cameroon | Cameroon | 5 | <0.01 | Po | + | + | + | + | − |
| 30 | Cameroon | Cameroon | 3 | 0.12 | Po | + | + | + | + | − |
| 35 | Nigeria | Nigeria | 0.1 | 0.24 | Po | + | + | + | + | − |
| 25 | Burkina Faso | Burkina Faso | 0.25 | <0.01 | Plasmodium spp. | + | + | + | + | Pf + Pm |
| 10 | Ivory Coast | Ivory Coast | 2 | 0.5 | Pf | + | + | + | + | Pf |
| 26 | Ivory Coast | Ivory Coast | NA | <0.1 | Pv | + | + | + | + | − |
| 29 | NA | N/A | NA | <0.004 | Pv or Po | + | + | + | + | − |
| 19 | Burkina Faso | Burkina Faso | NA | <0.001 | Pf | + | + | + | + | Pf + Pm |
| 42 | Italy | Tanzania | NA | <0.1 | Po | + | − | + | + | − |
| 51 | Ghana | Ghana | NA | 0.3 | Pv | + | − | + | + | − |
| 63 | Italy | Unknown | NA | 0.2 | Po | + | − | + | + | − |
| 24 | Cameroon | Cameroon | 6 | 0.07 | Po | + | − | + | + | − |
| 23 | Cameroon | Cameroon | NA | 0.2 | Po | + | − | + | + | − |
| 30 | Ivory Coast | Ivory Coast | NA | 0.037 | Po | + | − | − | + | − |
| 29 | Cameroon | Cameroon | 5 | − | − | + | − | − | + | − |
| 3 | Burkina Faso | Burkina Faso | NA | − | − | + | − | − | + | − |
a
Period between last date in the country of endemicity and presentation to the hospital.
b
Pf, P. falciparum; Pm, P. malariae; Po, P. ovale; Pv, P. vivax.
c
NP-1993, the primary reaction was with genus-specific primer set rPLU5-PLU6, followed by separate secondary reactions, each with one of the following species-specific primer sets: rFAL1-FAL2, rVIV1-rVIV2, rOVA1-rOVA2, or rMAL1-rMAL2 (20, 21).
d
This patient had traveled to Panama and Costa Rica following his trip to Africa, but P. ovale is not known to occur in the Americas. He presented to hospital 6 months after his return from Latin America.
e
NA, not available.