Kingdom Protista | Order Haemosporida Genus Plasmodium Rank Species | |
Plasmodium circumflexum is a parasite of the genus Plasmodium subgenus Giovannolaia.
Contents
Like all Plasmodium species P. circumflexum has both vertebrate and insect hosts. The vertebrate hosts for this parasite are birds.
Description
The parasite was first described by Kikuth in 1931 in a juniper thrush. It may have been the same species previous described by Labbe in 1894 who thought it was a species of Haemoproteus.
Schizonts: these are large and when mature may entirely encircle the erythrocyte nucleus.
Merozoites: each schizont gives rise to 13-30 merozoites (mean 19.8: standard deviation 5).
Gametocytes: these are large and when mature may entirely encircle the erythrocyte nucleus.
Geographical occurrence
This parasite is found in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Morocco, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the United States.
Vectors
Culiseta morsitans
Mansonia crassipes
Theobaldia annulata
Sporogeny but not transmission has been recorded in Mansonia perturbans.
Clinical features and host pathology
In wild guinea fowl the pathological features in acute cases include anaemia, jaundice and splenomegaly; in the subacute cases severe splenomegaly, right ventricular hypertrophy and multifocal interstitial myocarditis.
Host records
P. circumflexum has been recorded infecting the following hosts: