Woodford J, Gillman A, Jenvey P, et al. - Researchers aimed at determining organ-specific changes during the early stages of Plasmodium vivax infection. 18-F fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI) was performed at baseline and just prior to onset of clinical illness in P. vivax experimentally induced blood-stage malaria (IBSM) and comparison of findings was done to P. falciparum IBSM. From 3 IBSM trials (NCT02867059, ACTRN12616000174482, and ACTRN12619001085167) they enrolled seven healthy, malaria-naive participants (aged between 19 and 23 years; 6/7 male). In both species (n = 3 P. vivax; n = 4 P. falciparum), they performed post inoculation imaging after a median of 9 days. All participants were. There was an increase in splenic uptake of radiolabeled glucose following P. vivax and P. falciparum infection and this was noted to be more pronounced in the P. vivax group. No increase in glucose uptake in the liver and bone marrow was noted following infection with either P. vivax or P. falciparum. These findings are in line with other emerging evidence of a greater predilection for the spleen in P. vivax than P. falciparum. They suggest a possible utility of functional medical imaging for studying biological processes in experimental malaria infection.