Laboratory of Malaria Immunology, Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFReC), Osaka University, Japan.
Int Immunol. 2018 Mar 10;30(3):121-129. doi: 10.1093/intimm/dxx076.
Individuals from malaria-endemic regions often acquire partial immunity after multiple repeated infections throughout their lives. This partial immunity prevents them from developing severe complications and they often remain asymptomatic with a persistent, low parasite density in the blood, and therefore the necessity for treatment is neglected. These patients with chronic, asymptomatic malaria serve as a reservoir for Plasmodium parasite transmission, becoming a major obstacle for eradication efforts. The constant exposure to malaria infection may have benefits in the short term by conferring protection from acute, severe malaria; however, it may cause substantially more harm in the long term. Rather than the parasite burden itself, the complications induced by the dysregulated immune responses and the tissue damage done by the parasites and their products can cause chronic and irreversible suffering. Furthermore, the complete clearance of parasites in the body may not lead to complete recovery from the disease as complications can still persist. The fact that there are chronic pathologies caused by malaria that mostly remain obscure and have the potential to cause a serious burden has recently been gaining attention. Here, we present and discuss the evidence of unforeseen pathologies and the risks associated with malaria.
来自疟疾流行地区的个体在一生中多次重复感染后通常会获得部分免疫力。这种部分免疫力使他们不会发展成严重的并发症，他们通常无症状，但血液中的寄生虫密度持续较低，因此忽视了治疗的必要性。这些患有慢性无症状疟疾的患者是疟原虫传播的储主，成为消除疟疾努力的主要障碍。长期暴露于疟疾感染可能在短期内具有保护作用，防止急性、严重疟疾；然而，从长期来看，它可能会造成更大的伤害。引起免疫反应失调和寄生虫及其产物引起的组织损伤的并发症而不是寄生虫负担本身，可能会导致慢性和不可逆转的痛苦。此外，寄生虫在体内的完全清除不一定会导致疾病的完全康复，因为并发症仍然可能存在。最近，人们越来越关注由疟疾引起的慢性病理，这些病理大多不明显，有可能造成严重的负担。在这里，我们提出并讨论了与疟疾相关的意外病理和风险的证据。
