Plasmodium vivax: Insights on burden and pathobiology

Abstract

Plasmodium vivax is increasingly recognized by the scientific community as a significant contributor to the global burden of malaria and as a potential cause of severe disease in humans. Its widespread geographical distribution and its capacity to relapse from its hypnozoite liver stages jeopardize control strategies and put it in the forefront, beside Plasmodium falciparum, of the human malaria parasites. This chapter reviews current knowledge regarding its estimated burden, its potential to cause disease, the eventual relation of severity with chloroquine resistance, cytoadherence, and its pathophysiology. In this era of renewed and increasing research efforts in the malaria field, underst..