Development of irreversible lesions in the brain, heart and kidney following acute and chronic murine malaria infection

Irreversible pathological lesions were noted in the organs of mice infected with 1 of 3 rodent malaria species: Plasmodium chabaudi chabaudi, P. vinck ei petteri and P. yoelii nigeriensis at different times during the course o f the primary parasitaemia and long after microscopical clearance of the pa rasites. Moreover, similar lesions were also obtained when parasite levels were kept below 1 % by subcurative drug treatment. The frequency and severi ty of the lesions correlated with the duration of the infection. Accumulati on of tissue damage during chronic low-grade malaria infections has implica tions for the design of control measures.