Mosquitoes can rapidly develop resistance to bed nets treated with insecticide, a study from Senegal says.In recent years the nets have become a leading method of preventing malaria, especially in Africa.In the Lancet Infectious Diseases, the researchers also suggest the nets reduced the immunity of older children and adults to malaria infection. But other experts say the study was too small to … [Read more...]
Over-Treating Malaria in Africa
Prescribing malaria medication to patients who don’t need it wastes precious resources in a country already dealing with drug shortages. It leaves patients untreated for the real cause of their sickness. And it can lead to drug resistance, making malaria parasites harder to eliminate when people really do contract the disease. So why do health workers ignore negative test results? … [Read more...]
IDRI, USAID to Collaborate on Malaria Vaccine Development
The Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) today announced a new Memorandum of Understanding with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), focused on support of a collaboration with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) for the development of a new vaccine against malaria. The collaboration is for the development of a novel malaria vaccine, which combines … [Read more...]
Microwaves Against Malaria
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced that twelve grantees have advanced to the next level of Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE), an initiative that enables researchers worldwide to test unorthodox ideas that address persistent health and development challenges. The grantees will receive additional funding to continue Phase II of their research over a two-year … [Read more...]
Mobile App for Diagnosing Malaria
Focusing on the millions of people at risk from malaria in sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world, Lifelens is a project that has created a smartphone app to diagnose the insidious, mosquito-borne disease. The most prevalent diagnostic tool is the rapid diagnostic test RDT, which is known to be associated with a 60 percent incidence rate of false positive results. That, in turn, results … [Read more...]
Smelly Socks to Help Prevent Malaria?
In global public health, disease-fighting tools that are cheap, available and sustainable are the Holy Grail. It might be hard to top the one being tested in Tanzania as a way to prevent malaria: smelly socks. Experiments in three villages where people get about 350 bites a year from malaria-infected mosquitoes are using dirty socks to lure the insects into traps, where they become contaminated … [Read more...]
Simple Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) for Malaria Work Well
When a person living in a malarial area gets a fever, health workers need to know the cause to make absolutely sure they give the right treatment. For many years in sub-Saharan Africa primary health workers have often assumed a fever is caused by malaria, and given antimalarial drugs. This approach means sometimes people receive the wrong treatment for their illness. It also wastes resources and, … [Read more...]
Inexpensive, Common Drug Found to be Effective Against Malaria Transmission
Researchers have found that an inexpensive and widely-available drug (Ivermectin) used to treat river blindness in Africa, round worm and head lice in American school children is also effective in reducing malaria transmission, especially during seasonal epidemics of this worldwide scourge. “Can you kill a mosquito when it’s biting you [with] something that’s in your blood," asked Brian … [Read more...]
Researchers to Develop Mobile Phone Based Malaria Detector
The University of Glasgow has received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to further help in the diagnosis of malaria. The $100,000 award will go towards developing a device which uses mobile-phone derived technology that can detect and separate red blood cells infected with malaria parasites. It is hoped that if successful, devices based on the technology could be mass … [Read more...]
Lutheran Malaria Initiative Aims to Raise $45 Million to Fight Malaria
Lutheran World Relief (LWR), The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the United Nations Foundation announced on Monday an unprecedented partnership to mobilize Lutherans in the United States in the fight against malaria in Africa. … [Read more...]