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Seasonal prevalence and transmission of avian pox and malaria in Hawaiian forest birds.Dr. Susan Jarvi, Research Geneticist, PIERC/PCSU at UH ManoaDr. Carter Atkinson, Microbiologist, PIERC Project: SIS 5001768. |
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Introduced avian malaria (Plasmodium relictum) has had a devastating impact on native Hawaiian honeycreepers and is believed to be one of the primary factors limiting recovery of many of these species in low elevation habitats. There is a critical need for accurate, reliable methods for the diagnosis of malarial infections in Hawaiian forest birds to augment epidemiological studies of the parasite and to provide essential diagnostic information for forest bird restoration programs. While microscopic evaluation of a Giemsa-stained blood smear is still considered the "gold standard" in malarial diagnostics (arrows are pointing to infected red blood cells in picture), this method lacks sensitivity for detecting chronic, low-level infections where numbers of circulating parasites in the peripheral bloodstream are extremely low.
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 infected red blood cells |
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Individuals with chronic infections are of particular interest because they have survived acute stages of the infection and may have some genetic resistance to the parasite, making them desirable candidates for incorporation into captive-breeding and translocation programs. Thus, an accurate method for identifying chronically infected individuals would be an important tool for forest bird management and restoration programs.
We routinely use a combination of approaches for reliable diagnosis of malarial infection in Hawaiian forest birds. These include a blood smear to verify identity and intensity of infection, and two additional tests recently developed here at PIERC. One is a PCR-based test which involves the use of nested PCR primers specific for a P. relictum gene (TRAP), which allows identification of low intensity infections, and the other is an immunoblot method which tests for the presence of circulating antibodies in chronic infections where the parasite may have disappeared from the peripheral circulation. |
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