FreeImage Configure error. Linux

The file configure.ac contains the following check for libfreeimageplus

AC_CHECK_LIB( [freeimageplus], [FreeImage_OpenMemory],
...

This fails because the symbol FreeImage_OpenMemory is an external symbol in libfreeimageplus:
$ nm -D libfreeimageplus.so | grep FreeImage_OpenMemory
U FreeImage_OpenMemory

Whereas, FreeImage_OpenMemory is defined in libfreeimage:
$ nm -D libfreeimage.so | grep FreeImage_OpenMemory
0001b0e0 T FreeImage_OpenMemory

If the c++ wrapper is required something like:
AC_CHECK_LIB( [freeimageplus], [_init], ..

Is required instead. Otherwise freeimage support cannot be configured.