How We Could Have A World Without Malaria [Infographic] by the team at Work The World … [Read more...]
Not So “Useless” Hybrids: The Emergence of Genetic Resistance to Insecticides in Anopheles Mosquitoes
People always gripe about how scientists waste time studying useless, obscure topics. I’ve spent my career studying the species Anopheles gambiae, whose name literally means “useless” in Greek. But it also happens to be the deadliest animal in the world: its other name is the African malaria mosquito. It may be a useless pest, but understanding it is critical to fighting malaria. This is a … [Read more...]
New Anti-malarial Insecticides Will Pave the Way for Malaria Eradication
2015 is a significant year in the global battle against malaria. Three new public health insecticides will go into full development after 10 years of research and development. These are the first new antimalarial insecticides in over 30 years and they will make a major difference to the lives of millions of people. … [Read more...]
A Microbial Melting Pot – The Mekong Region and Antimalarial Resistance
The history of treating malaria with herbal and other plant-derived compounds stretches back centuries. In modern times, some of these remedies have been proven to contain potent chemical compounds for fighting malaria, and have been developed into a pharmaceutical arsenal of treatments. However, in the last half century, the war has turned more into an arms race. The malaria parasite - and in … [Read more...]
Malaria in Review: Research, Developments, and Progress Made
Welcome to Malaria.com, where, fittingly, we take a look at some of the key developments, challenges, and advances from the past year. The four articles that we are featuring cover a broad spectrum of issues related to malaria research and control. From investigating the evolutionary origins of malaria species to progress made on large-scale international research collaborations, and from using … [Read more...]
Examining Malaria Transmission from the Perspective of the Patient, the Parasite, and the Mosquito
Dr Alison Isaacs describes a network of on-going international research collaborations, whose recent results will provide important insights into malaria control in endemic regions. Malaria transmission is most simply described as a cycle between man and mosquito. It could be eradicated if mosquitoes were prevented from biting humans, if people received a vaccine protecting them from the … [Read more...]
Of Parasites and Poop
One of the oldest malaria riddles may have been solved in 2014… by a team of researchers sorting through poop [1]. Of the malaria species that infect people, the two that cause the vast majority of human suffering have the catchy names of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. P. falciparum is primarily responsible for infections in sub-Saharan Africa. It’s the more deadly of the pair, and … [Read more...]
Genetically Modified Mosquitoes – The Next Step for Malaria Control?
Earlier this year, a remarkable advance was made in the way technology, and specifically genetic modification, is being used to fight vector-borne diseases. A small British company, Oxitec, started commercial production of an ingenuous method for reducing mosquito populations in the wild, using the mosquitoes’ own mating success as the weapon. These genetically modified mosquitoes are now being … [Read more...]
Global Fund Funding and Malaria Elimination: The Impact of the New Funding Model
Twenty-fifteen will be a pivotal year for malaria efforts. Key global strategies for malaria, such as the World Health Organization’s Global Technical Strategy for Malaria, will be launched, discussion is well underway about how malaria fits within the new Sustainable Development Goals, and the Global Fund will be revisiting its own strategy. Over the past decade, incredible progress has been made … [Read more...]
Welcome to Our Vectors Issue!
Welcome to Malaria.com, and another issue of our newly-launched “e-zine” format. We hope you enjoyed the diagnostics articles that kicked us off in September – we are now back with another selection of articles, this time devoted to a critical issue related to malaria: vectors. Given my academic background in schistosomiasis, which is transmitted by fresh-water snails, I suppose it is not that … [Read more...]