Stable Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein-1 allelic diversity despite decreasing parasitaemia in children with multiple malaria infections

Allelic diversity was stable over time in individuals, based on this limited polymorphic region and small sample size, suggesting that there are no significant shifts in allele frequencies or replacements due to alleles being maintained under balancing selection. The dominant alleles in the population are those frequently observed in these children with multiple malaria episodes, further suggesting that early exposure to dominant alleles does not shift their frequency in the population or prevent repeat infection with the same alleles in subsequent infections. However, a blood stage merozoite vaccine is likely to require a multi-allelic formulation.