Natural infection of Plasmodium brasilianum in humans: Man and monkey share quartan malaria parasites in the Venezuelan Amazon.

Background: The quartan malaria parasite Plasmodium malariae is the widest spread and best adapted human malaria parasite. The simian Plasmodium brasilianum causes quartan fever in New World monkeys and resembles P. malariae morphologically.

The Effects of Plasmodium vivax Gestational Malaria on the Clinical and Immune Status of Pregnant Women in Northwestern Colombia.

Objective: The study explored the effects of Plasmodium vivax infection on the balance of pro- versus anti- inflammatory cytokines and chemokines and their relationship with some clinical and epidemiology outcomes.

Methods: Thirty-five pregnant women were recruited. Of these, 15 subjects had malaria at delivery (GM+), and 20 had no exposition to infection throughout the pregnancy (GM-) and at delivery.

Haplotypes of IL12B promoter polymorphisms condition susceptibility to severe malaria and functional changes in cytokine levels in Thai adults.

Polymorphic variability in immune response genes, such as IL12B, encoding the IL-12p40 subunit is associated with susceptibility to severe malaria in African populations. Since the role of genetic variation in conditioning severe malaria in Thai adults is largely unexplored, the functional association between IL12B polymorphisms [i.e.