Adaptation of a Nigerian strain of Plasmodium falciparum to Panamanian Aotus trivirgatus.

Abstract A patent infection (more than 190 days duration) with Plasmodium falciparum, obtained directly from a patient who had been exposed to malaria in Nigeria, was established in a splenectomized Panamanian owl monkey, Aotus trivirgatus griseimembra. Subinoculations from the original monkey recipient into one splenectomized and two normal A. t. griseimembra produced primary patent parasitemias of 18–54 days duration. These results represent the first successful adaptation of P. falciparum from man to a monkey of Panamanian origin.