“…The presence of IgM or IgE Abs to malaria Ags in cord blood constitutes prima facie evidence of in utero sensitization since, unlike IgG, these Ig isotypes do not cross the placenta from the maternal circulation (8,11,12). There have been relatively fewer studies of cord blood T cell responses to malaria Ags (12)(13)(14) and to our knowledge, no descriptions of cord blood B cell responses. These investigations, which reported lymphocyte proliferation, IL-2, IL-4, and IFN-␥ responses to lysates of infected red cells (i.e., schizont extracts), recombinant proteins, or synthetic antigenic peptides, suggest that a small proportion of infants become sensitized to malaria Ags during gestation.…”