Suppression of Plasmodium cynomolgi in rhesus macaques by coinfection with Babesia microti.

ABSTRACT: Both Plasmodium and Babesia species are intraerythrocytic protozoans that infect a wide range of hosts, including humans, and they elicit similar inflammatory responses and clinical manifestations that differ markedly in severity. We recently reported that a rhesus macaque that was chronically infected with Babesia microti was able to control infection with Plasmodium cynomolgi (a parasite of macaques with characteristics very similar to those of Plasmodium vivax) better than naïve monkeys. To confirm this and to investigate the underlying immunopathology, six naïve rhesus monkeys were infected with B. microti. After 24 days, four of these monkeys and four naïve rhesus monkeys were challenged with P. cynomolgi blood-stage parasites. B. microti persisted at low levels in all monkeys, and th

SUBMITTER: van Duivenvoorde LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2825946 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature