A group of experts led by Regina Rabinovich and Carlos Chaccour from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) has published a roadmap to evaluate—and subsequently implement—ivermectin as a complementary vector ...
Jan 22, 2020
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In a study by The Wistar Institute and collaborators, a rare, African-specific variant of the TP53 gene called P47S causes iron accumulation in macrophages and other cell types and is associated with poorer response to bacterial ...
Jan 24, 2020
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Engineered human capillaries are providing an astounding view of how red blood cells transit ultra-small blood vessels.
Jan 23, 2020
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In a world first, researchers from The University of Western Australia have taken the first step towards understanding whether it may be possible for breastfeeding mothers to naturally vaccinate their babies against malaria—one ...
Jan 07, 2020
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A pinch in the leg, a squeal and a trickle of tears. One baby after another in Malawi is getting the first and only vaccine against malaria, one of history's deadliest and most stubborn of diseases.
Jan 16, 2020
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The process of crystallization is central to drug development, petrochemical processing and other industrial actions, but scientists say they still are learning about the complex interactions involved in the building and ...
Jan 16, 2020
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Parasites in the genus Plasmodium, which cause malaria, are transmitted to humans through bites from infected mosquitoes. The parasites acclimatize to these two completely different hosts because the plasticity of their genome ...
Jan 03, 2020
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After he was struck down by malaria and typhoid, Togolese tailor Ayawo Hievi thought he was set to recover when he started taking drugs prescribed by his doctor.
Jan 15, 2020
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An international team of scientists has synthetically engineered mosquitoes that halt the transmission of the dengue virus.
Jan 16, 2020
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A stroke appears to create a sticky situation inside the blood vessels of the brain that can worsen damage days, even months later, scientists report.
Jan 15, 2020
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Lengthy negotiations ended in good news recently when the price of rifapentine, a lifesaving antibiotic, was marked down by 66% by its manufacturer Sanofi. When combined with another antibiotic (isoniazid), rifapentine can ...
Jan 14, 2020
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What if you could make the tuberculosis vaccine much more powerful, not by altering the ingredients, but just by changing the way it is given to people? It would help prevent the infection that kills more people every year ...
Jan 03, 2020
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Worldwide, more people die from tuberculosis (TB) than any other infectious disease, even though the vast majority were vaccinated. The vaccine just isn't that reliable. But a new Nature study finds that simply changing the ...
Jan 01, 2020
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Humans have long been thwarted by 'the fever'. References to malaria's infamous febricity are found across antiquity, from writings by the four thousand-year-old Vedic sages of ancient India to the Greek physician Hippocrates. ...
Dec 19, 2019
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Female mosquitoes that have mated are more likely to transmit malaria parasites than virgin females, according to a study published November 7 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Farah Dahalan of Imperial College ...
Nov 07, 2019
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Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases progressing to coma or death. It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including much of Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
Five species of Plasmodium can infect and be transmitted by humans. Severe disease is largely caused by Plasmodium falciparum while the disease caused by Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale, and Plasmodium malariae is generally a milder disease that is rarely fatal. Plasmodium knowlesi is a zoonosis that causes malaria in macaques but can also infect humans.
Malaria transmission can be reduced by preventing mosquito bites by distribution of mosquito nets and insect repellents, or by mosquito-control measures such as spraying insecticides and draining standing water (where mosquitoes breed). Despite a clear need, no vaccine offering a high level of protection currently exists. Efforts to develop one are ongoing. A number of medications are also available to prevent malaria in travelers to malaria-endemic countries (prophylaxis).
A variety of antimalarial medications are available. Severe malaria is treated with intravenous or intramuscular quinine or, since the mid-2000s, the artemisinin derivative artesunate, which is superior to quinine in both children and adults. Resistance has developed to several antimalarial drugs, most notably chloroquine.
There were an estimated 225 million cases of malaria worldwide in 2009. An estimated 655,000 people died from malaria in 2010, a 5% decrease from the 781,000 who died in 2009 according to the World Health Organization's 2011 World Malaria Report, accounting for 2.23% of deaths worldwide. Ninety percent of malaria-related deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa, with ~60% of deaths being young children under the age of five. Plasmodium falciparum, the most severe form of malaria, is responsible for the vast majority of deaths associated with the disease. Malaria is commonly associated with poverty, and can indeed be a cause of poverty and a major hindrance to economic development.
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