Abstract

Malaria is still a grave public health problem in tropical areas of the world. The greater genetic diversity of Plasmodium vivax at geographic sites with less control over infection reveals the importance of genetic studies of these parasites. Plasmodium vivax is the main cause of human malaria in Asia and Latin America but is absent from most of central Africa due to the near fixation of a mutation that inhibits the expression of its receptor, the Duffy antigen, on human erythrocytes. The search for vaccine development remains an issue of global concern.