Evaluation of malaria interventions, such as drugs and vaccines depends on clinical definition of the disease, which is still a challenge due to lack of distinct malaria specific clinical features.
We have engineered high levels of starch-bound GBSS fused to three distinct malaria vaccine candidates using the unicellular green algae C. reinhardtii.
Variation in recognition among the three panels of sera may be due to differences in the genetic background of the hosts, of the parasites and, most likely, to distinct malaria transmission conditions in the three regions.
However, the effect of overzealous immune responses on the lifetime transmission potential of genetically distinct malaria parasites that vary in virulence has not, until now, been examined.
In rodent malarial infections, transmission rates of individual genotypes of Plasmodium chaubaudi are often higher from mixed infections than from single clone infections [ 4] and genetically distinct malaria clones compete within hosts [ 3].
We therefore undertook a series of experiments in which we explored whether immune factors central to the protection-pathology balancing act help to determine the virulence induced during infection with genetically distinct malaria parasites, and if so, what effect this may have on parasite fitness.
Genetically-distinct malaria clones are often present in the same human blood meal so this sexual phase provides an opportunity for genetic recombination to occur between genetically-distinct malaria parasites, resulting in the generation of genetic diversity.
It is also important to note the limitations in diagnosing malaria deaths through the verbal autopsy method, which suffers from a lack of a distinct symptom complex for malaria [11], [58].
There was a distinct seasonality in the number of malaria cases with a peak during June to August.
However, there is a distinct seasonality with higher incidence of malaria between May and December just before, during and after the rainy season that lasts from May/June to October/November.
