Boosting of transmission-blocking immunity during natural Plasmodium vivax infections in humans depends upon frequent reinfection

Abstract

The infectivity to mosquitoes of 31 acute Plasmodium vivax patients was measured by permitting mosquitoes to feed directly on the patients. The infectivity of these patients correlated closely with titers of antibodies in their serum as measured by indirect immunofluorescence against air-dried female gametes of P. vivax. Infectivity by direct feeding was also closely parallel to the transmission-blocking activity of the sera of patients as measured by the suppression of infectivity of parasitized blood by autologous serum relative to normal (nonmalarial) human serum when fed to mosquitoes through a membrane. These results are consistent with serum antibodies in human P. vivax infections as major factors determining the infectivity of an infected individual to mosquitoes. It was further noted that individuals having a second attack of P. vivax within less than 4 months were considerably less infectious than first-attack patients were. This 'boosting' of transmission-blocking immunity was much less if longer intervals intervened between attacks. We discuss the immunological implications and possible epidemiological significance of this short-term boosting of transmission-blocking immunity by successive P. vivax infections.