“…Similarities in morphological and immunological responses between P. vivax and P. simium [3, 5, 10, 17, 27] and P. malariae and P. brasilianum were reported [5–7, 19]. Molecular and phylogeny studies based on 18S ribosomal subunit RNA (ssrRNA), the circumsporozoite protein (CSP) gene and cytochrome b gene of P. malariae / P. brasilianum [14, 15, 23], P. vivax / P. simium [14, 18] and human P. vivax ‐like/ P. simiovale [13] showed that they are not distinct and that P. falciparum / P. reichenowi (a parasite of Pan troglodytes , an Old World ape) are very closely related [13, 14, 21].…”