''Plasmodium georgesi'' is a parasite of the genus ''

Plasmodium ''Plasmodium'' is a genus of unicellular eukaryotes that are obligate parasites of vertebrates and insects. The life cycles of ''Plasmodium'' species involve development in a blood-feeding insect host which then injects parasites into a ver ...

'' subgenus ''

''. Like all ''Plasmodium'' species ''P. georgesi'' has both

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () (chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, with c ...

and

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

hosts. The vertebrate hosts for this parasite are mammals.

Description

This species was first described by Poirriez ''et al.'' in 1993. The

trophozoite A trophozoite (G. ''trope'', nourishment + ''zoon'', animal) is the activated, feeding stage in the life cycle of certain protozoa such as malaria-causing ''Plasmodium falciparum'' and those of the ''Giardia'' group. (The complement of the trophozoi ...

s have long crescent-shaped nuclei (surface area 2.18 +/- 0.25 square micrometres). The pigment is stored as short rods.

Geographical occurrence

''Plasmodium georgesi'' has been found in the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

Clinical features and host pathology

''Plasmodium georgesi'', '' Plasmodium petersi'' and ''

Plasmodium gonderi ''Plasmodium'' is a genus of unicellular eukaryotes that are obligate parasites of vertebrates and insects. The life cycles of ''Plasmodium'' species involve development in a blood-feeding insect host which then injects parasites into a vert ...

'' are the only ''Plasmodium'' species found to date (2008) in ''Cercocebus'' monkeys. P. georgesi infects '' Cercocebus albigena'' and '' Cercocebus galeritus agilis'' causing a remitting/relapsing form of malaria.

References

georgesi {{plasmodium-stub