Tag: Malaria

New eco-friendly solution to fight against malaria

Mosquitoes can and do feed on HMBPP-supplemented beetroot juice. This is the findings of a study at Stockholm University. HMBPP is a metabolite which is produced by Malaria parasite, Plasmodium. The researchers have shown that it is possible to mimic a blood meal so closely that mosquitoes naturally prefer this artificial solution by using HMBPP

Malaria vaccine that uses live parasites can give 100% protection

Malaria vaccine that uses live parasites provides 100% protection against a wide range of strains when given alongside 86p pills A vaccine combined with chloroquine gave 100% protection against the disease The US scientists behind the study said the level of protection is ‘unprecedented’ The cheap antimalarial drug was previously touted as a Covid treatment  A

New evidence supports ivermectin use in children weighing less than fifteen kilograms

Millions of children weighing less than 15kg are currently denied access to Ivermectin treatment due to insufficient safety data being available to support a change to the current label indication. The WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN)'s new meta-analysis published today provides evidence that supports removing this barrier and improving treatment equity. A systematic review and

UN: More than 7 million malaria cases in Burundi outbreak

The World Health Organization says more than 7 million cases of malaria have been reported in Burundi this year. Officials blame the outbreak on factors including the lack of protective bed nets, problems with medicines and climate change. The U.N. health agency says malaria has killed nearly 2,700 people this year in the East African

Drug discovery offers new hope to halt the spread of malaria

Breakthrough research has revealed a new drug that may prevent the spread of malaria, and also treat people suffering with the deadly parasitic disease. The findings, which were delivered by an international team of scientists led by the University of Glasgow and published today in Science, offer fresh hope in the global fight against malaria.

Mosquito surveillance uncovers new information about malaria transmission in Madagascar

Riley Tedrow, Ph.D., a medical entomologist at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, has uncovered new findings about malaria transmission in Madagascar. In a recent study published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, he also describes real-world application of an effective mosquito surveillance strategy using low cost traps and a recently reported tool that simultaneously

New framework helps gauge impact of mosquito control programs

Effective methods of controlling mosquito populations are needed to help lower the worldwide burden of mosquito-borne diseases including Zika, chikungunya, and dengue. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have described a new statistical framework that can be used to assess mosquito control programs over broad time and space scales. The mosquito Aedes aegypti

Earlier emergence of malaria in Africa

Malaria, which claims hundreds of thousands of lives each year — mainly children and especially in Africa -, is one of the leading causes of death by an infectious agent, the Plasmodium falciparum parasite. In research on malaria, the genetic mutation that causes sickle cell anemia (also known as drepanocytosis), a chronic disease that is

Gold-complexed ferrocenyl phosphines as potent antimalarials

A team of researchers from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have developed novel ferrocene-based molecules that impair the malaria parasite’s metabolic function leading to parasite death. Despite concerted efforts for malaria elimination, this deadly disease remains a major health threat to the developing world. The causative agent

Researchers explore new way of killing malaria in the liver

In the ongoing hunt for more effective weapons against malaria, international researchers said Thursday they are exploring a pathway that has until now been little studied—killing parasites in the liver, before the illness emerges. “It’s very difficult to work on the liver stage,” said Elizabeth Winzeler, professor of pharmacology and drug discovery at University of

Audrey Odom John

Malaria affects 216 million people worldwide — mostly younger children in sub-Saharan Africa — and causes 445,000 deaths annually. Although the mosquito-borne, parasitic disease is preventable and curable, barriers exist in diagnosing the illness. The standard blood test used for diagnosis can be cumbersome, time-consuming and expensive, and its availability is limited in settings where

Potential assay artefacts in anti-malarial screening documented

Malaria remains an economic and health burden to the developing world. As plasmodium, the causative agent of malaria, is acquiring rapid resistance against currently used drugs, identification of new classes of anti-malarials remains an urgent need. Potential anti-malarials include small molecules, peptides, antibodies or plant extracts with likely medicinal properties. These agents are often prepared

New type of bed net could help fight against malaria

A new type of bed net could prevent millions of cases of malaria, according to new research published in The Lancet today (10 August). The two-year clinical trial in Burkina Faso, West Africa involving 2,000 children showed that the number of cases of clinical malaria was reduced by 12 per cent with the new type

Malaria: Cooperating antibodies enhance immune response

Malaria is one of the most infectious diseases worldwide. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, Germany, and from the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada, have studied how the human immune system combats malaria infections. In this study, the researchers discovered a previously unnoticed characteristic of antibodies against the