Plasmodium ovale infection in Malaysia: first imported case

Plasmodium ovale infection is rarely reported in Malaysia. This is the first imported case of P. ovale infection in Malaysia which was initially misdiagnosed as Plasmodium vivax.

Peripheral blood sample was first examined by Giemsa-stained microscopy examination and further confirmed using a patented in-house multiplex PCR followed by sequencing.

Initial results from peripheral blood smear examination diagnosed P. vivax infection. However further analysis using a patented in-house multiplex PCR followed by sequencing confirmed the presence of P. ovale. Given that Anopheles maculatus and Anopheles dirus, vectors of P. ovale are found in Malaysia, this finding has significant implication on Malaysia's public health sector.

The current finding should serve as an alert to epidemiologists, clinicians and laboratory technicians in the possibility of finding P. ovale in Malaysia. P. ovale should be considered in the differential diagnosis of imported malaria cases in Malaysia due to the exponential increase in the number of visitors from P. ovale endemic regions and the long latent period of P. ovale. It is also timely that conventional diagnosis of malaria via microscopy should be coupled with more advanced molecular tools for effective diagnosis.