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...]
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...]
Mobile Phones Used to Help Fight Malaria
Researchers are studying the use of mobile phones to document the spread of malaria. The study is part of an effort to stop or control the disease. The World Health Organization says malaria mortality rates have fallen by twenty-five percent since two thousand. Yet the disease killed an estimated six hundred fifty-five thousand people in twenty-ten. Scientists say malaria-carrying mosquitoes … [Read more...]
How Mosquito Immune System Attacks Specific Infections, Including Malaria Parasite
Researchers have determined a new mechanism by which the mosquitoes’ immune system can respond with specificity to infections with various pathogens, including the parasite that causes malaria in humans, using one single gene. Unlike humans and other animals, insects do not make antibodies to target specific infections. According to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public … [Read more...]
Mini Primaquine? Controversy and Uncertainty Surround WHO Guidelines for the Antimalarial Primaquine
By Lorenz von Seidlein – This year has seen a considerable increase in interest in primaquine, an antimalarial that has been around for more than 60 years. The answer to why the spotlight has recently intensified on this old drug lies in three key questions in malaria research and control: How do we contain the spread of artemisinin resistance; how do we minimise the transmission of … [Read more...]