Malaria, and its causative agent, the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, is transmitted person-to-person through a bite from an Anopheles mosquito. After being bitten by an infected mosquito, P. falciparum parasites in the sporozoite stage (PfSpz) enter the body and travel to the liver where they infect
liver cells—this stage of the disease is asymptomatic. In liver cells the sporozoites divide into merozoites (PfRBC) that then exit the liver cell and infect red blood cells. This infection of red blood cells causes the
symptomatic stage of malaria.
In the field of public health, it
is generally accepted that immunity
from malaria infections is usually short-lived and weak at best. A study by Teirlinck et al published December
1 in PLoS Pathogens set out to test whether or not lasting immunity is actually
induced by infection with P. falciparum. In order to direct their experiment, the
researchers chose to investigate recent findings that cytokines, small signaling proteins, play a role in the cellular
immune response to P. falciparum. To do this, the researchers infected two
groups via mosquito bites; group A was treated with the prophylactic
anti-malaria drug chloroquine while
group B received no prophylaxis.
