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Virulence in malaria: an evolutionary viewpoint.

Margaret J Mackinnon1, Andrew F Read

  • 1School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, Scotland, UK. m.mackinnon@ed.ac.uk

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences
|August 13, 2004
PubMed
Summary
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Malaria parasites evolve to maximize transmission, balancing host harm with survival. This virulence trade-off explains parasite dynamics and predicts evolutionary responses to treatments.

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Parasitology
  • Disease ecology

Background:

  • Malaria parasites cause significant human morbidity and mortality.
  • Virulence in parasites is often linked to their transmission rate.
  • An evolutionary trade-off hypothesis suggests virulence is driven by transmission benefits versus host death costs.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review evidence for the virulence trade-off hypothesis in malaria parasites.
  • To examine data from rodent malaria (Plasmodium chabaudi) and human malaria (Plasmodium falciparum).
  • To explore the evolutionary implications of this trade-off for parasite adaptation.

Main Methods:

  • Review of laboratory data from Plasmodium chabaudi.
  • Analysis of field data for Plasmodium falciparum in human populations.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Correlation analysis of asexual multiplication, transmission, infection length, morbidity, and mortality.

    • Main Results:

    • Data from both Plasmodium chabaudi and Plasmodium falciparum support the virulence trade-off hypothesis.
    • Strong positive correlations observed between parasite multiplication, transmission, infection duration, and host pathology.
    • Plasmodium falciparum data indicate optimal transmission in young children, balancing mortality costs and transmission benefits.

    Conclusions:

    • The virulence trade-off hypothesis provides a robust evolutionary framework for understanding malaria parasite dynamics.
    • Clinical and molecular pathogenesis mechanisms align with this evolutionary explanation, though direct fitness evidence is limited.
    • Parasite populations are expected to evolve virulence in response to medical interventions like vaccines and drugs.