The importance of parasite load in the killing ofPlasmodium vinckeiin mice treated withCorynebacterium parvumor alloxan monohydrate

Mice pre-treated with Corynebacterium parvum and later challenged with Plasmodium vinckei become infected but do not die whereas control mice do. When pre-treated mice were challenged with 1, 10, 1 X 10(2), 1 X 10(4), 1 X 10(5) or 1 X 10(6) parasites, the pre-patent periods correlated directly with the number of parasites injected, but the subsequent parasitaemias reached similar levels. This suggests that parasite killing, resulting from pre-treatment with C. parvum, is not triggered until the parasite load has reached a particular threshold. The injection of alloxan monohydrate, which brings about the release of toxic oxygen intermediates thought to be involved in non-specific immunity, has little effect on P. vinckei infections until the parasitaemia is relatively high. This indicates that oxygen-mediated parasite killing also does not occur until the parasitaemia has reached a particular threshold. It is suggested that it is only at relatively high parasitaemias that the factors involved in parasite killing are able to enter the infected red blood cells.