Understanding disease pathogenesis and host response of endemic malaria in previously exposed individuals compared to naïve individuals

Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax are two major species of malaria that can establish a focus of infection in millions of individuals per year. Principally, this occurs in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world where malaria is endemic due to the ubiquity of the disease vector, the Anopheles mosquitos. Malaria takes the lives of thousands of infected individuals as the progression of disease symptoms having fatal consequences. This disease mainly affects children and pregnant women which poses a great public health concern. It is also a global economic burden from the millions of international dollars are aliquoted for research yearly. This review looks to discuss the pathogenesis of malaria, various host immune responses, the development of clinical immunity in reinfected individuals, and the effects that the presence of one species may have on the pathogenesis and disease outcome of another malarial species in co-infected individuals. Overall, this manuscript aims to provide an understanding of malarial infection and the differing host immune mechanisms of previously exposed individuals compared to those of naïve individuals in environments where malaria is of high prevalence. These highlights indicate a need for further research in order to better understand host-species and species-species interactions so that proper therapeutics and vaccinations may be developed as to not inhibit the beneficial effects species may have on one another in mixed species interactions as well as to aid in the development of clinical immunity.