Factors influencing resistance to reinfection with Plasmodium falciparum

Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1999 Dec;61(6):926-31. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.1999.61.926.

Abstract

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Amodiaquine / therapeutic use
  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Protozoan / blood*
  • Antimalarials / therapeutic use
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Female
  • Gabon / epidemiology
  • Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Malaria, Falciparum / drug therapy
  • Malaria, Falciparum / epidemiology
  • Malaria, Falciparum / immunology*
  • Male
  • Plasmodium falciparum / immunology*
  • Plasmodium falciparum / isolation & purification
  • Plasmodium malariae / isolation & purification
  • Prevalence
  • Recurrence
  • Risk Factors
  • Sex Factors
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Antibodies, Protozoan
  • Antimalarials
  • Amodiaquine