An analysis of the relationship of host factors to clinical falciparum malaria by multiple regression techniques.

Clinical records of 58 infections with the Vietnam Smith strain of Plasmodium falciparum in human volunteers were studied in order to 1) characterize the clinical course of infections; 2) investigate the effects of race, weight, age, method of induction, and previous malaria experience on the course of infection using methods of multiple regression; and 3) establish whether differences in drug-treatment groups may have influenced the current study results. We found that blacks tolerated infection better than whites, that heterologous as well as homologous strain immunity persists after infection and that these results could not be attributed to differences in treatment. The clinical course of infections with the Vietnam Smith strain of P. falciparum is described.