Varying <i>P</i>. <i>berghei</i> sporozoite inoculation to obtain an estimate of blood-stage growth rate by non-linear curve fitting.

Dilution series of wild-type (A) or PvCSP-210/PvTRAP transgenic (B) P. berghei were intravenously injected into 6–8 week old BALB/c mice and time to 1% blood stage parasitaemia was inferred by linear regression from daily thin blood smears. Curve-fitting to the equation was performed using Prism to obtain a value for the growth rate g where Z is the number of sporozoites injected, Tmax maximum time-to-1%, TN time-to-1% in a challenged mouse, and k the infectivity of sporozoites. A value of g = 4.0 ± 1.5 was obtained from (A, n = 24) and g = 3.6 ± 0.9 from (B, n = 46). Best fit values given ± SEM.