Ineffective Erythropoiesis in Severe Malaria: Pathophysiology of bone marrow suppression in Plasmodium falciparum malaria

Less than one in a hundred of those infected by Plasmodium falciparum die. However, the death toll is more than a million lives per year as the population yearly infected with the parasite is 300 to 500 million people. About 90% of these deaths occur in Sub Saharan Africa in children under 5 years of age. Resistance of malaria parasites to the inexpensive front-line drugs, limitations in national health services and population movements are important components of the problems faced by those preventing and treating malaria. Severe malarial anaemia (SMA) is one of the major syndromes of severe disease that also include cerebral malaria and severe respiratory distress. The treatment of SMA is a major health problem in malaria endemic areas. Blood transfusions are often required, rarely available, and associated with an increased risk of HIV transmission. Against this brief background of ?social virulence factors?, this book describes the virulence factors (sensu stricto) of P. falciparum, and how they interplay with host factors to cause disease.