Malaria is a disease transmitted by mosquitoes; however, these are only carriers of the parasite that causes the disease. Is it possible to trace the true origin of it? , how and when do I migrate from animal species to human? In order to deal with this deadly condition that still causes more than half a million deaths a year, it is crucial to follow up on its origin.
The SURPRISING origin of malaria
A group of scientists discovered that the deadliest form of malaria comes from gorillas .In this sense, researchers discovered, through fecal samples of the animal, that the parasite P.falciparum , which attacks the human being was very similar to one of the three parasites present in the feces of the gorilla.

This discovery annulled previous assumptions that pointed to chimpanzees as the first carriers of malaria.> formally strong gorillas as the animal species carrying the parasite that generates the disease.
In conclusion, a mosquito beak to an infected gorilla and then that same mosquito beak to a human, later the disease spread rapidly to all our species.But, when did the migration of the disease to humans? To be able to to discover it they had to study the strokes of the Plasmodium of the gorilla, for which they needed several blood samples and thus be able to determine the genome sequences and the moment of the transmission.
The only problem to determine the moment of the Transmission of the disease was to obtain blood samples from wild gorillas.Failing that, the group of scientists studied the blood of chimpanzees , which, fortunately, also has three classes of Plasmodium.

The result of the research published in the Nature Communications magazine showed that the Ision of the disease is recent.The specialists explain that it should have occurred approximately 10,000 years ago, since if it had been before the human parasite would present a greater diversity of mutations, as the chimpance samples presented.In this sense, one of the co-authors of the study, Paul Sharp , explains:
“Discovering that these chimpanzees have much more genetic diversity is something that emphasizes the Little diversity of human parasites ”
This discovery represents a breakthrough in the study of malaria, a disease that takes approximately 500,000 lives each year .Knowing its origin and moment of transmission is vital to be able to understand and deal with it in more effective ways.
If you liked to discover the origin of malaria, we invite you to continue reading more about: The 7 oldest diseases known
Images: CDC Global, Vale laugh, Robert Andersson
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