The pre-erythrocytic stage of plasmodium falciparum

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Abstract
The exptl. evidence used to prove the presence of a pre-erythrocytic stage in the life cycle of P. falciparum falls into 4 steps (1) the infection of mosquitoes (Anopheles maculipennis atroparvus and A. quadrimaculatus) with a Bucharest strain of P. falciparum; (2) the feeding of the mosquitoes on a human volunteer and a laparotomy for possible infected tissue; (3) the inoculation of a 2d volunteer with blood from the first; and (4) the examination of the excised liver tissue from the 1st. The results indicated that pre-erythrocytic schizogony takes less than 135 hrs. to be completed and merozoites formed. Excised liver cells showed stages of schizogony, with the cycle completed by the 6th day. The pre-erythrocyte cycle of P. falciparum is of shorter duration than that of P. vivax. An exo-erythrocytic stage in falciparum is either very short, or entirely absent, while such a stage is well established for vivax infections. The fact that such stages are found only under the extremely heavy exptl. infections (nearly 800 bites in a short perio) probably explains why exo-erythrocytic and pre-erythrocytic stages have never been observed during the course of naturally acquired[long dash]and usually less intense.[long dash]infections.
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