EXPERIMENTAL TRANSMISSION OF MURINE MALARIA BY THE ORAL ROUTE

A total of 116 young male CD1 mice were orally inoculated with mouse b lood; half of the animals received 0.2 ml of uninfected blood and the others were given 0.2 ml of Plasmodium berghei yoelii-infected blood i n six experiments performed at different times. Almost 30% of the expe rimental mice acquired malaria as demonstrated by the observation of p arasites in their blood. In no case were parasites found in the blood of control mice. Rodent malaria parasites may be transmitted to CD1 mi ce by the ingestion of mouse blood parasitized by P. b. yoelii. As far as we know, this study represents the first demonstration of oral tra nsmission of murine malaria. Oral transmission studies in this mouse-P lasmodium model may produce very important information on the biology of the malaria parasites.