Parasite development goes through several distinct stages in both the human host and mosquito (see 'One parasite - many hiding places', page S17). After repeated infections with Plasmodium falciparum or P. vivax, the two main causes of malaria, people do eventually develop effective immunity that prevents symptomatic and severe illness and controls the blood-stage infection. This observation has long provided a strong rationale for malaria vaccine development, yet we know remarkably little of how malaria immunity works in naturally exposed individuals.
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