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Comment
. 2020 Dec;26(12):1816-1818.
doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-01171-y.

Malaria parasites hide in plain sight in the dry season

Philip Bejon  1   2
Affiliations
Comment

Malaria parasites hide in plain sight in the dry season

Philip Bejon. Nat Med. 2020 Dec.

Abstract

Plasmodium falciparum parasites survive the dry season by accepting increased clearance rates through the host spleen, which leads to a persistent lower-level infection.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. P. falciparum parasites can be partially cleared from circulation by the spleen.
P. falciparum circulates in the blood, including circulation through the spleen. Splenic circulation reduces the abundance of parasites in the blood, but the parasite can evade this by sticking to blood vessel walls to evade circulation through the spleen.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

  • Increased circulation time of Plasmodium falciparum underlies persistent asymptomatic infection in the dry season.
    Andrade CM, Fleckenstein H, Thomson-Luque R, Doumbo S, Lima NF, Anderson C, Hibbert J, Hopp CS, Tran TM, Li S, Niangaly M, Cisse H, Doumtabe D, Skinner J, Sturdevant D, Ricklefs S, Virtaneva K, Asghar M, Homann MV, Turner L, Martins J, Allman EL, N'Dri ME, Winkler V, Llinás M, Lavazec C, Martens C, Färnert A, Kayentao K, Ongoiba A, Lavstsen T, Osório NS, Otto TD, Recker M, Traore B, Crompton PD, Portugal S. Andrade CM, et al. Nat Med. 2020 Dec;26(12):1929-1940. doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-1084-0. Epub 2020 Oct 26. Nat Med. 2020. PMID: 33106664

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