Malaria, a disease caused by Plasmodium parasites, kills nearly 600,000 people annually. Inoculated by an infectious mosquito bite, Plasmodium sporozoites travel to the liver and infect hepatocytes. Here, they develop into merozoites that are released into the blood to cause malaria associated mortality and morbidity. No fully protective malaria vaccine exists, but immunizations with genetically attenuated parasites (GAPs) that arrest in the liver confer sterile protection from challenge in mice.
