Persistence and recurrence of S-antigen in Plasmodium falciparum infections in man

The persistence of heat stable malarial antigens (S-antigens) in the sera of Gambian children following treatment for severe Plasmodium falciparum infections was investigated. In most cases S-antigens ceased to be demonstrable within 7 days but in some they were detected for several weeks and their persistence correlated with both the density of parasitaemia and the antigen titre observed before treatment. An exponential loss of circulating antigen was, in the majority of individuals, accelerated by some other factor which might have been homologous antibody. Renewal of asexual parasitaemia usually resulted in reduction in the rate of antigen loss or in an increase in antigen level. When the aparasitaemic interval was a month or less the antigens associated with different parasitaemic episodes usually showed identical specificities; when the interval was longer they were usually antigenically distinct. These findings may indicate that relapse parasites usually show the same S-antigen specificities as their progenitors while parasites arising from distinct infections tend to show different specificities and could therefore support a view that considerable antigenic heterogeneity exists among the parasites that comprise P. falciparum populations in endemic areas.