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The rodent malaria model Plasmodium chabaudi was used to test the hypothesis that the extent of competitive release (total fitness gain for resistant parasites) could be restricted further by reducing drug concentrations in short duration regimens while still alleviating the clinical symptoms of disease. The higher dose treatment was shown to result in stronger and more prolonged positive selection for resistance compared to the low-dose treatment and hence milder drug dosages might achieve better resistance management.

Two fundamental assumptions underlying the evolutionary trade-off model are tested using the rodent malaria Plasmodium chabaudi. These assumptions, that higher replication rates lead to higher levels of virulence and that higher replication rates lead to higher transmission, are shown to be justified in malaria parasites. This was demonstrated by measuring virulence and transmission in eight parasite clones isolated from the wild, thereby creating a system that allows across-clone genetic relationships between replication rate, virulence and transmission to be examined.