The role of the spleen in red blood cell loss caused by malaria: A mathematical model

Abstract

The human spleen significantly influences red blood cell (RBC) dynamics due to its ability to retain and/or remove RBCs from peripheral blood circulation. This filtering can mediate a range of malaria disease manifestations, depending on the physiological properties of the spleen. Data collected from patients undergoing splenectomy in Papua, Indonesia, revealed that in asymptomatic infections the spleen harboured substantially more infected RBCs than were circulating in the peripheral blood and that the spleen is also congested with uninfected RBCs. We hypothesise that two conditions hold for the spleen to retain such a high proportion of infected and uninfected RBCs: (i) the retention rate ..