Evidence for the Transmission of Plasmodium vivax in the Republic of the Congo, West Central Africa

Plasmodium vivax is not thought to be transmitted in western and central Africa, because of the very high prevalence of the red blood cell Duffy-negative phenotype in local populations, a condition which is thought to confer complete resistance against blood infection with P. vivax. There are, however, persistent reports of travelers returning from this region with P. vivax infections. To investigate whether transmission occurs in this region, the presence of antibodies specific to P. vivax preerythrocytic-stage antigens was assessed in individuals from the Republic of the Congo. A total of 55 (13%) of 409 samples tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay had antibodies to P. vivax-specific antigens.