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Malaria

A new escape and evasion tactic

Nature volume 398, pages 562–563 (1999)Cite this article

The mosquito-borne parasites (Plasmodium) that cause malaria have adapted a variety of devious molecular strategies to enable them to survive and keep propagating in their immunologically aggressive hosts. Now, on page 618 of this issue, Preiser et al.1 reveal another clever new weapon that has been developed by Plasmodium in order to escape destruction in the molecular arms race between host and parasite.

Malarial disease results from the cycles of multiplication of asexual Plasmodium parasites in the blood of the host. This cyclical propagation is initiated by an invasive form of the parasite, the merozoite, when it enters the red blood cells (erythrocytes). Once inside, merozoites undergo transformation into ring-shaped trophozoites, which mature into large trophozoites before undergoing schizogony, a form of haploid nuclear division. This in turn generates between six and 32 new merozoites, which burst out of their erythrocyte casement into the bloodstream.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. John W. Barnwell is at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Parasitic Diseases, 4770 Buford Highway NE, Atlanta, 30341, Georgia, USA

    John W. Barnwell

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  1. John W. Barnwell
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Barnwell, J. A new escape and evasion tactic. Nature 398, 562–563 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/19198

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