Fig. 2

Recurrent infections exploit gaps in antibody repertoire against surface of infected red blood cells. a Homologous surface recognition of individual recurrent isolates, where the day of each recurrent parasitaemia is set at day 0. b Homologous recognition of all isolates as well as heterologous recognition is shown. Homologous recognition of the isolates is shown in red, and heterologous recognition of the same isolates is shown in blue. For comparison, recognition of all the isolates by hyperimmune and nonimmune sera is also shown, in gray. The sera used was taken at day 0 (at the uptake of the patient in the study), or at day 14 (convalescent sera), as indicated. The isolates were divided into baseline and recurrent isolates, as indicated below the graph. Homologous sera taken before recurrence recognizes the recurrent parasites less than their overall recognition by heterologous sera (P = 0.063). MFI: Mean fluorescence intensity