Research Articles

Factors influencing resistance to reinfection with Plasmodium falciparum

A treatment-reinfection study design was used to investigate the relationships between host immunologic and/or genetic factors and resistance to reinfection with Plasmodium falciparum. Sixty-one children in Gabon were enrolled in a cross-sectional study to measure the prevalence of each human plasmodial species. All were given amodiaquine for radical cure of parasites, and 40 were subsequently followed-up for 30 weeks. Successive blood smears were examined to measure the delay of reappearance in blood of asexual stages of P. falciparum parasites. Presence of infection during the cross-sectional survey was associated with male sex, non-deficient glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity, plasma interleukin-10 level, and anti-LSA-Rep antibody concentration. Resistance to reinfection was related to the presence of anti-LSA-J antibodies, and the absence of anti-LSA-Rep antibodies. Moreover, P. malariae-infected subjects were usually co-infected with P. falciparum, and were also more rapidly reinfected with P. falciparum after treatment, compared with those without P. malariae infection.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				H. Pilkington, J. Mayombo, N. Aubouy, and P. Deloron Malaria, from natural to supernatural: a qualitative study of mothers' reactions to fever (Dienga, Gabon) J. Epidemiol. Community Health, October 1, 2004; 58(10): 826 - 830. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]