New Delhi, Feb. 24: Novel genetic mutations in malaria parasites and an infected population without symptoms observed for the first time in Bengal may hamper efforts to control a lethal form of malaria, researchers have said.

The genetic mutations appear linked to drug resistance in malaria parasites and highlight the need to revise the existing primary treatment strategy, said scientists at Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, who spotted the mutations have.

In an independent study, researchers at the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine have detected a tribal population in Purulia district infected with the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, but without any symptoms whatsoever of the disease.

While doctors have sporadically reported cases of such asymptomatic infections earlier from states with high malaria prevalence, such as Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa, scientists say this is the first report from Bengal.

"Asymptomatic infected persons remain a hidden reservoir of the parasite," said Swagata Ganguly, a medical researcher and a member of the CSTM team. "They don't seek treatment and facilitate transmission of the parasite."

The CSTM team led by Ardhendu Maji examined about 1,040 members of a tribal population in a forested area of Purulia in June 2012 and found that about eight per cent of the population had Plasmodium falciparum without symptoms. The findings are published this week in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology. Maji said the CSTM hopes to conduct similar studies in other parts of Bengal.

The findings come at a time when Vidyasagar University microbiologists have reported what they say are novel mutations in the parasite that seem associated with resistance to sulfadoxine and pyrimethamine, a drug combination used to treat malaria.

Their study suggests that a mutation in a gene called dhfr is associated with the parasite's resistance to pyrimethamine, and a set of quadruple mutations ' at four points on the parasite's genome ' in another gene called dhps seem strongly linked to resistance to sulfadoxine. Their study is also published this week in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents.

"The parasite is changing ' it is quickly adapting to our medicines," said Amiya Kumar Hati, a medical entomologist and former director of the CSTM who has collaborated with the Midnapore team.

India's malaria control programme had recommended in 2009 the use of a combination of drugs ' artemisinin with sulfadoxine and pyrimethamine ' to treat malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum, the most dangerous of malaria parasites.

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