[Anti-I anti-erythrocyte auto-immunization in malaria]

An anti-erythrocyte autoimmunization with anti-I specificity was shown in patients previously exposed to malaria (falciparum malaria in 98.7% of cases). An anti-I antibody was eluted from red cells in 14.6% of 41 patients with an acute P. falciparum infection. The frequency of the anti-I immunisation was found to be correlated to the rate of the antimalarial antibodies among the 152 patients without parasitaemia, coming from areas endemic for falciparum malaria: this frequency was 5.2% for a rate below 1/64, 9.7% for a rate between 1/64 and 1/256, and 34% for a rate above 1/1,024. Anti-I antibodies were more often noted in African patients coming from forest areas, considered as chronically infected with P. falciparum, and in other patients who have been in France for less than a month. No anti-I antibodies were found in the control group, composed of 52 Caucasian healthy subjects with no previous exposure to malaria. This anti-I immunisation was transitory and its disappearance was usually accompanied by a lowering of anti-malarial antibodies.