# Quantification of Healthy Red Blood Cell Removal and Preferential Invasion of Reticulocytes in Macaca mulatta during Plasmodium cynomolgi Infection

## TL;DR

This study develops and calibrates a simplified mathematical model to quantify red blood cell removal and reticulocyte invasion during malaria infection in macaques, revealing host erythropoietic response prior to blood stage.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a simplified ODE model derived from a PDE framework and calibrates it with experimental data to quantify key malaria dynamics in macaques.

## Key findings

- Quantified healthy red blood cell removal during infection.
- Identified preferential invasion of reticulocytes.
- Revealed host erythropoietic response before blood stage.

## Abstract

We derived an ordinary differential equation model to capture the disease dynamics during blood-stage malaria. The model was directly derived from an earlier age-structured partial differential equation model. The original model was simplified due to experimental constraints. Here we calibrated the simplified model with experimental data using a multiple objective genetic algorithm. Through the calibration process, we quantified the removal of healthy red blood cells and the the preferential infection of reticulocytes during \textit{Plamodium cynomolgi} infection of \textit{Macaca mulatta}. The calibration of our model also revealed the existence of host erythropoietic response prior to blood stage infection.