Aislamiento y caracterización de cepas colombiana de plasmodium falciparum

Abstract

The selection of strains of P. falciparum wich are to be used in antigenic analysis and immunization studies, requires a complete characterization that includes the following criteria: The clinical history of the patient and the history of the isolate, the adaptahility in culture, the spectrum of drug sensitivity, the normal morphology including knobs formation (K-), the availahility of samples of original infected blood and the adaptability in Aotus monkeys. On this basis eigth isolates of P. folciporum from Colombia have been partilly characterized. To date, one strain. the FCB-1, fulfills most of the above criteria and is well adapted to intact Aotus monkeys, producing very virulent infections. Chloroquine-resistant strains appear to develop higher parasitemias during the adaptation to continuous culture. This may be an important fact due to the rapid spread of population of parasites resistant to chloroquine.