Fig. 2.

Antibody levels to VAR2CSA domains in malaria infected (grey boxes) and uninfected women (open boxes) at enrollment in primigravid (a, d), secundigravid (b, e) and multigravid (c, f) women. Infections detected by blood smear microscopy are shown in a–c, and submicroscopic infections detected by PCR in d–f. Numbers that follow indicate the number of samples with positive blood smear or positive by PCR and with no infection in each gravid group: primigravidae (a n = 63, 94; d n = 18, 73); secundigravidae (b n = 29, 89; e n = 19, 62); multigravidae (c n = 50, 278; f n = 65, 190). Significant differences in antibody levels in malaria-infected women versus uninfected indicated by an asterisk. The results are expressed as median fluorescent intensity (MFI). Box plot indicates the median (horizontal line) and interquartile range (box), the whiskers indicate the 10th and 90th percentiles