In this study, we characterized imported vivax cases, analyzed the genetic sequence of three imported vivax malaria cases for the merozoite surface protein-1 (MSP-1) and circumsporozoite protein (CSP) genes, and clearly discriminated an imported vivax case that was misdiagnosed as indigenous by genetic analysis.
The success of this trial, and striking analogies of this natural host-parasite system with human P. vivax malaria, suggests that it could serve as a surrogate system for the development of a human P. vivax malaria vaccine based on similar recombinant analogs of the P. vivax MSP1 antigen.