Extraordinary parasite multiplication rates in human malaria infections.

Autor: Greischar MA; Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA. Electronic address: megan.greischar@cornell.edu., Childs LM; Department of Mathematics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Trends in parasitology [Trends Parasitol] 2023 Aug; Vol. 39 (8), pp. 626-637. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jun 17.
DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2023.05.006
Abstrakt: For pathogenic organisms, faster rates of multiplication promote transmission success, the potential to harm hosts, and the evolution of drug resistance. Parasite multiplication rates (PMRs) are often quantified in malaria infections, given the relative ease of sampling. Using modern and historical human infection data, we show that established methods return extraordinarily - and implausibly - large PMRs. We illustrate how inflated PMRs arise from two facets of malaria biology that are far from unique: (i) some developmental ages are easier to sample than others; (ii) the distribution of developmental ages changes over the course of infection. The difficulty of accurately quantifying PMRs demonstrates a need for robust methods and a subsequent re-evaluation of what is known even in the well-studied system of malaria.
Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests.
(Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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