ABSTRACT: Drugs are primary weapons for reducing malaria in human populations. However emergence of resistant parasites has repeatedly curtailed the lifespan of each drug that is developed and deployed. Currently the most effective anti-malarial is artemisinin, which is extracted from the leaves of Artemisia annua. Due to poor pharmacokinetic properties and prudent efforts to curtail resistance … [Read more...]
Whole-plant Artemisia May Curtail Malaria Drug Resistance
Malaria affects millions of people in the developing world each year, and fighting the disease can be difficult, because the mosquito-borne parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which causes the deadliest form of malaria, has developed resistance to every anti-malaria drug. Molecular parasitologist Stephen Rich at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is leading a research team that has found a … [Read more...]
WHO Report – Funding and Support for Anti-Malaria Programs Slows
During the past decade, a concerted effort by endemic countries, donors and global malaria partners led to strengthened malaria control around the world. The scale-up of malaria prevention and control interventions had the greatest impact in countries with high malaria transmission; 58% of the 1.1 million lives saved during this period were in the ten highest burden countries. However, after a … [Read more...]
New Diagnostic Test for Malaria
A new diagnostic test could revolutionize the treatment of malaria, one of the world’s most persistent and deadly diseases, making it possible to diagnose the illness from a single drop of blood or saliva. The test, developed by researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark, detects very low levels of an enzyme produced by the Plasmodium parasite, the organism that causes malaria. This could … [Read more...]
HIV treatment reduces risk of malaria recurrence in children
A combination of anti-HIV drugs has been found to also reduce the risk of recurrent malaria by nearly half among HIV-positive children, according to researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health. … [Read more...]
G6PD Deficiency Prevalence and Estimates of Affected Populations in Malaria Endemic Countries
Primaquine is a key drug for malaria elimination. In addition to being the only drug active against the dormant relapsing forms of Plasmodium vivax, primaquine is the sole effective treatment of infectious P. falciparum gametocytes, and may interrupt transmission and help contain the spread of artemisinin resistance. However, primaquine can trigger haemolysis in patients with a deficiency in … [Read more...]
Phase III Trial of RTS,S Malaria Candidate Vaccine Reduces Malaria by One Third
Results from a pivotal, large-scale Phase III trial, published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine, show that the RTS,S malaria vaccine candidate can help protect African infants against malaria. When compared to immunization with a control vaccine, infants (aged 6-12 weeks at first vaccination) vaccinated with RTS,S had one-third fewer episodes of both clinical and severe malaria … [Read more...]
GlaxoSmithKline Malaria Vaccine Candidate Results Disappointing
The latest clinical trial of the world’s leading malaria vaccine candidate produced disappointing results on Friday. The infants it was given to had only about a third fewer infections than a control group. Three shots of the vaccine, known as RTS, S or Mosquirix and produced by GlaxoSmithKline, gave babies fewer than 12 weeks old 31 percent protection against detectable malaria and 37 percent … [Read more...]
An Effective Fix for the Devastation of Malaria
"Malaria made me and my family poor," says Ngoy Kabulo, 52, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. "Every day, we would wake up with swollen bodies because of mosquito bites," he says. "Our two small children had anemia every month, and we were always spending money on the hospital." But a very simple item -- a long-lasting insecticide-treated bed net -- can help put a stop to this … [Read more...]
Challenges in Malaria Research: 2012 Highlights
Guest bloggers Rosalind Howes and Katherine Battle report from this month’s Challenges in Malaria Research Conference in Basel, Switzerland. The fight against malaria has enjoyed unprecedented financial and research investment over the past decade, with ensuing successes including important drops in malaria mortality and morbidity, stories of national elimination and targets set for regional … [Read more...]