Mathematical models corresponding to a variety of biological hypotheses have been proposed which can explain the observed delayed clearance of malaria infection observed in Cambodia. Some of these models predicted that more frequent dosing regimens would result in increased rates of clearance. However, when this was put to the test in the field, increased dosing frequency was not associated with increased clearance. We are not aware of any published mathematical models which can reproduce this observed phenomenon. We argue that any model relating to a hypothesis about delayed parasite clearance must at the minimum have the capacity to reproduce this phenomenon.
Here we propose a rigorous mathematical process to assess the suitability models for parasite clearance. We use a specific model as an example to illustrate the process.