Placental parasitemia is associated with maternal anemia, prematurity, low birth weight, and excess perinatal morbidity and mortality [3]. An additional, but much less studied, consequence of placental parasitemia is that many newborns are born with immune systems that are already primed because they have been exposed to P. falciparum antigens in utero. Prenatal exposure can result in fetal acquisition of parasite-specific antibody and cytokine responses that can be measured in the infant's lymphocytes at delivery, but may also lead to tolerance and immunological anergy at subsequent re-exposure [4].

In this week's PLoS Medicine, Christopher King and colleagues [5] report results from a study designed to directly address the hypothesis that prenatal exposure to parasite antigens directly affects the risk of malaria in infancy. The authors recruited 586 pregnant women and their newborn children from an area of stable transmission of P. falciparum parasites in coastal Kenya. Venous and placental blood from the mothers as well as cord blood from the babies was examined by microscopy and PCR for presence of parasites to evaluate prenatal exposure to parasite antigens. The authors then tested the parasite antigen-specific immune reactivity in the offspring at delivery and every six months thereafter for the first three years of life. The antigens examined were parasite proteins involved in merozoite invasion of erythrocytes, targets of protective immunity, and vaccine candidates. Antigen-induced responses included lymphocyte proliferation and cytokine production. Furthermore, the authors measured plasma levels of IgG with specificity for some of the antigens used in the in vitro assays of cellular immunity.

The authors conclude that their data show that a sizeable proportion of children in endemic areas are immunologically disadvantaged at birth as a consequence of being exposed to P. falciparum antigens before birth, and that this is of clinical importance because it increases their risk of parasitemia in the first few years of life. If this is indeed the case, it is of obvious importance to clinicians and health policy makers. However, there are issues that require further study and consideration by scientists in this field. First of all, it is intuitively surprising how such a disadvantage can persist despite the expected negative selection pressure against it. Secondly, it should be considered whether below average, Th1-type, “pro-inflammatory” cellular immune responses and low-level parasitemia are in fact adequate indicators of impaired clinical immunity, when several studies have shown that asymptomatic infection actually protects against clinical diseases episodes, and that eradication of such infections can be detrimental [8]–[10]. Thirdly, only parasitemia detectable at parturition was considered. However, the prevalence of placental infection peaks in the second trimester, and undoubtedly many infections with the potential to affect the immune system of the fetus have been resolved well before delivery [11]. Fourthly, the authors chose to study cytokine responses to “classical” parasite antigens rather than the antibody responses to the so-called variant surface antigens, which are important determinants of clinical immunity [12]. Finally, there are issues related to anti-malarial drug use and HIV infection that remain unresolved after the present study.