ANTIGENIC DIVERSITY AND THE TRANSMISSION DYNAMICS OF PLASMODIUM-FALCIPARUM
Details
Publication Year 1994-02-18,Volume 263,Issue #5149,Page 961-963
Journal Title
SCIENCE
Publication Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The average age of humans at their first infection with Plasmodium falciparum is typically less than 1 year in most endemic areas. This has been interpreted as evidence of the high transmissibility of the parasite, with the implication that control of malaria will require high levels of coverage with a potential vaccine. This interpretation is challenged by mathematical models that demonstrate that the long period required to develop immunity to malaria permits a high risk (or low average age) of infection even when parasite transmissibility is low. Patterns of seroconversion to five antigenically distinct isolates of P. falciparum in a highly malarious area of Papua New Guinea indicate that each is only mildly transmissible and that malaria, as a construct of several such independently transmitted strains, has a basic reproductive rate (or transmissibility) that is an order of magnitude lower than other estimates.
Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
Keywords
PAPUA-NEW-GUINEA; MALARIA; ERYTHROCYTES; SURFACE; MADANG
Terms of Use/Rights Notice
Refer to copyright notice on published article.


Creation Date: 1994-02-18 12:00:00
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