Factors influencing resistance to reinfection with Plasmodium falciparum

• Published in: The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene Vol. 61; no. 6; pp. 926 - 931
• Main Authors: Domarle, O, Migot-Nabias, F, Mvoukani, JL, Lu, CY, Nabias, R, Mayombo, J, Tiga, H, Deloron, P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lawrence, KS ASTMH 01.12.1999; Allen Press
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Amodiaquine - therapeutic use; Animals; Antibodies, Protozoan - blood; Antimalarials - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child, Preschool; Cross-Sectional Studies; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Female; Gabon; Gabon - epidemiology; Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency - epidemiology; Human protozoal diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Malaria; Malaria, Falciparum - drug therapy; Malaria, Falciparum - epidemiology; Malaria, Falciparum - immunology; Male; Medical sciences; Parasitic diseases; Plasmodium falciparum; Plasmodium falciparum - immunology; Plasmodium falciparum - isolation & purification; Plasmodium malariae - isolation & purification; Prevalence; Protozoal diseases; Recurrence; Risk Factors; Sex Factors; Time Factors; Tropical medicine; Gabon; Africa; Human; Hemoglobinopathy; Protozoa; Apicomplexa; Protozoal disease; Sickle cell anemia; Malaria; Hemopathy; Parasitosis; Reinfection; Statistical study; Genetic disease; Infection; Resistance; Plasmodium falciparum; Hemolytic anemia; Child
• ISSN: 0002-9637; 1476-1645
• DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.1999.61.926

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.