INFECTING DOSE AND SEVERITY OF MALARIA - A LITERATURE-REVIEW OF INDUCED MALARIA

The influence of infecting dose on severity of malaria is unknown. The medical literature contains descriptions and analyses of thousands of people, volunteers and neurosyphilis patients, in whom malaria was in duced artificially. In some studies it is possible to relate measures of dose to outcome. In this paper a systematic review of this literatu re is presented. Dose was inversely related to prepatent and incubatio n period, as expected. A few studies suggested a relation between dose and severity of disease but others did not. Difficulties in interpret ing the studies are emphasized, and the findings are compared with tho se in experimental animals.