Neither mosquito saliva nor immunity to saliva has a detectable effect on the infectivity of Plasmodium sporozoites injected into mice.

ABSTRACT: Malaria infection is initiated when a female Anopheles mosquito probing for blood injects saliva, together with sporozoites, into the skin of its mammalian host. Prior studies had suggested that saliva may enhance sporozoite infectivity. Using rodent malaria models (Plasmodium berghei and P. yoelii), we were unable to show that saliva had any detectable effect on sporozoite infectivity. This is encouraging for plans to immunize humans with washed, attenuated P. falciparum sporozoites because many individuals develop cutaneous, hypersensitivity reactions to mosquito saliva after repeated exposure. If washed sporozoites have no appreciable loss of infectivity, they likely do not have decreased immunogenicity; thus, vaccinees are unlikely to develop cutaneous reactions against mosquito saliva

SUBMITTER: Kebaier C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2798199 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature