Malaria Jumped to Humans From Chimps, According to NG Emerging Explorer

Text by Annie Hay

A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that scientists may have determined that the origin of the disease malaria was initially introduced to humans by chimpanzees, as reported in the Washington Post.

Malaria, which causes the deaths of over one million children and adults every year, is commonly transmitted via mosquitos. In the past, scientists postulated that human and chimp strains of malaria split from the same origin. However, the new research proposes that the disease originated in the chimpanzee population as recently as 10,000 years ago, and was transmitted to humans by a mosquito that had previously extracted the blood of an infected chimp.

The study’s findings are significant. According to one of the study’s authors, Dr. Nathan D. Wolfe, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, if we can dedicate more research to the study of chimpanzee parasites and their spread to human populations, we may open the door for enormous innovation in malaria treatments and possibly even create a vaccine to end its spread all together.

Travelers headed to tropical and sub-tropical regions in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe should take one of the many antimalarials available. Read our previous malaria coverage and check out the CDC‘s recommendations.

Photograph courtesy of Pierre Holtz, UNICEF