Growth of asexual blood stages is normal in the presence of pABA in diet of mice. In milk-fed mice adcs- parasite propagation was severely impaired, whereas WT parasites displayed normal growth. Upon pABA supplementation via the drinking water, adcs- growth was fully restored, and mutant parasites grew indistinguishable from WT in milk-fed mice.Continued pABA restriction led to the retraction of adcs- parasitemia from day 12 onward, which was immediately reverted upon addition of pABA on day 18. During more extended periods of pABA deficiency, adcs- parasitemia dropped below the detection threshold, followed by alternating periods of re-emergence and retraction, indicative of latent malaria infection.