Experimental, therapeutic and natural transmission of Plasmodium vivax tertian malaria: scientific and anecdotal data on the history of Dutch malaria studies

Abstract When Plasmodium vivax tertian malaria was prevalent in The Netherlands, the use of therapeutic malaria for the treatment of neurosyphilis patients presented an opportunity for biological studies of the parasite’s behaviour, in healthy volunteers. One unexplained phenomenon was the long latency between natural exposure to a single infected mosquito and the appearance of clinical signs (average 8 months). Dutch studies with volunteers and syphilis patients, suggested that hundreds of sporozoites transmitted by several mosquito bites were enough to provoke an early attack, known from tro... Mehr ...