| Popis: |
Literature dealing with the immunology and immunopathology of infections with Plasmodium spp. in avian, rodent, and primate hosts is reviewed for the period between 1969 and 1974. A considerable amount of current work is with three of the chief target organs in the immunopathology of malaria, namely the erythron, the spleen, and the kidney. Serodiagnosis was developed as an epidemiological tool during this period. Work has focused also on the relapse problem, particularly in conjunction with the emergence of antigenic variants in response to the production of nonsterilizing amounts of anti-plasmodial antibody. Antigenic analysis of plasmodia, actively studied during the review period, is still fragmentary and incomplete. In particular, protection-inducing antigens still need to be isolated and characterized. Progress has been made in attempts at vaccination against various plasmodial stages but, although promising, advances are still rudimentary. Humoral and cell-mediated contributions to the development of functional protection against malaria have been studied. Antibody alone can neutralize small plasmodial inocula both in vitro and in vivo, and the merozoite is suspected as the stage vulnerable to this neutralization. While humoral protection is therefore not in doubt, it is widely believed that cell-mediated reactions fortify the humoral response via a helper-cell function. However, a total consensus on this view has not yet been reached. |
