Latency and long-term relapses in Benign Tertian malaria

Abstract

The author suggests that relapses in cases of benign tertian malaria are possibly due to the ability of certain sporozoites to remain inactive for long periods in tissue cells of man much in the same manner as they do in the tissue cells of the insect carrier. The latent period may be due either to a sub-minimal number of sporozoites injected at the time of infection, to the hindering effects of drugs, to the presence of a mixed infection, or to the presence of different strains of the same parasite causing a partial and temporary immunity.