Detection of malaria liver-stages in mice infected through the bite of a single Anopheles mosquito using a highly sensitive real-time PCR

We describe a highly sensitive real-time PCR to detect and measure the development of the liver-stages of malaria parasites in mice infected with sporozoites ranging in number from 25 to more than 164,000, using the same reaction conditions. Furthermore, this assay detects and measures parasite loads in the livers of mice exposed to the bite of a single malaria-infected Anopheles mosquito. This unique method should greatly facilitate studies aimed at evaluating very precisely the efficacy of anti-malarial experimental drug treatments and vaccination regimens in conditions of infection resembling those found in the field.