Plasmodium vivax liver hypnozoite (null)

Plasmodium vivax liver hypnozoite is a non-replicating, dormant, uninucleate stage of the malaria parasite found within human hepatocytes. Hypnozoites are responsible for latent relapses of malaria, sometimes activating weeks to years after initial infection. They evade most antimalarial therapies and are only eradicated by drugs such as primaquine or tafenoquine, which are contraindicated in certain populations due to toxicity. Hypnozoites are distinguished from developing liver schizonts by unique biomarkers (e.g., LISP2, HAP2) and exhibit specialized host-parasite interaction structures like the tubovesicular network. This dormant stage remains one of the biggest challenges to malaria eradication due to its biology, difficulty of detection, and limited therapeutic options

Other names

Plasmodium hypnozoiteVivax hypnozoiteLatent hepatic Plasmodium stageDormant liver-stage Plasmodium form

Primaquine/Tafenoquine: selectively kill hypnozoites through oxidative stress mechanisms and unknown disruption of persistence pathways