Hidden History

Causing several hundred thousand fatalities each year, malaria is a major concern for human health, but also affects a wide range of other animals. Most recently, the Plasmodium parasites responsible for malaria were found in North American white-tailed deer (pictured), a discovery that challenges our understanding of the evolutionary history of this disease. Despite a previous isolated record, malaria was not considered to occur in deer, or in any New World mammals, with the exception of primates who contracted the parasites from humans. On the contrary, analysis of the deer parasites’ genomes suggests that Plasmodium has been present in North American deer since they invaded the continent several million years ago. As low levels of infection in deer make the parasites difficult to detect, this study raises the possibility of more undiscovered cryptic infections in other species, and highlights how much more there is to learn about this widespread disease.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

Emmanuelle Briolat

Writer

A researcher specialising in visual signals in Lepidoptera, camouflage and the effects of light pollution, Emmanuelle’s writing covers a range of topics, from biomedical research to children’s books about moth defences.

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• Image by Ellen Martinsen
• Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Washington DC, USA
• Image copyright held by the photographer
• Research published in Science Advances, February 2016