Malaria News and Research

Latest Malaria News and Research

Combo malaria treatment dihydroartemisinin and piperaquine shows promise

The results of two new large scale trials show that the combination of dihydroartemisinin and piperaquine (DHA+PQP) not only is effective against uncomplicated malaria in a way which is comparable to other artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), but it also protects patients against new infections for at least two months after treatment.

19 Jan 2009

Researchers find essential proteins for final stage of malaria transmission cycle

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute (JHMRI) have identified, for the first time, the molecular components that enable the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium to infect the salivary glands of the Anopheles mosquito-a critical and final stage for spreading malaria to humans.

19 Jan 2009

The retina reveals deadly secrets of malaria

Looking at the retina in the eyes of patients with cerebral malaria has provided scientists with a vital insight into why malaria infection in the brain is so deadly.

15 Jan 2009

First artemisinin based malaria drug may meet resistance, expert says

This year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve the first malaria drug to contain artemisinin, a wormwood derivative from China that has proven effective for malaria in Africa and Asia.

8 Jan 2009

Debate on treating fevers in African children

A new debate in the open access journal PLoS Medicine questions whether all African children with fever should be treated presumptively with antimalarial drugs, or if treatment should wait until laboratory tests confirm malarial infection.

5 Jan 2009

Days could be numbered for Dengue spreading mozzies!

Australian researchers say the days of the Dengue spreading mozzie could be numbered and the news could not have come at a better time.

5 Jan 2009

Dormant cancer cells rely on cellular autophagy to survive

A single tumor-suppressing gene is a key to understanding, and perhaps killing, dormant ovarian cancer cells that persist after initial treatment only to reawaken years later, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the December Journal of Clinical Investigation.

5 Jan 2009

Remote sensing helps tackle tropical disease schistosomiasis in southern China

Scientists are looking to outer space for help in their attempt to prevent new outbreaks of the tropical disease schistosomiasis in southern China.

18 Dec 2008

Entomologists look for Lyme disease answers in tick saliva

In research that could mitigate the spread of Lyme disease, Kansas State University entomologists are looking for answers in tick saliva.

12 Dec 2008

New therapeutic targets for malaria

Scientists working on a common antimicrobial compound with antimalarial activity have discovered a range of new therapeutic strategies to combat malaria.

10 Dec 2008

Accelerating progress in the development of vaccines

This week the Elsevier Journal Vaccine, the most comprehensive and pre-eminent journal for those interested in vaccines and vaccination, organized the 2nd Vaccine Global Congress in Boston MA, USA.

10 Dec 2008

Vaccine against malaria could be ready in 5 years

Malaria kills more than one million people every year so the news that an effective vaccine could be available within five years is more than welcome.

9 Dec 2008

Low-income settings require local guideline development for childhood illness

The next generation of case management guidelines for childhood illness need to be more locally informed, rather than relying on those centrally generated by organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO), argues a new essay published in the open access journal PLoS Medicine.

8 Dec 2008

Promising trials of malaria vaccine in East Africa lead to calls for phase 3 development

Experts are recommending that a malaria vaccine progress to Phase 3 trials following the successful trial of the RTS, S/AS01E malaria vaccine among 5-17 month old children in Korogwe, Tanzania and coastal Kenya, which is reported in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

8 Dec 2008

Biomarkers in blood could aid diagnosis of two severe and debilitating forms of malaria

Canadian researchers have identified protein biomarkers that shed new light on the development of two severe and debilitating forms of malaria.

8 Dec 2008

New vaccine theory aimed at ticks and mosquitoes to prevent disease transmission

Most successful vaccines and drugs rely on protecting humans or animals by blocking certain bacteria from growing in their systems.

3 Dec 2008

PNG struggling to come to terms with HIV/AIDS epidemic

While the rest of the world acknowledged World AIDS Day this week in a number of ways, Papua New Guinea (PNG) appears to be struggling to come to terms with the HIV/AIDS epidemic which threatens the population.

3 Dec 2008

Crossing scientific boundaries to understand the rejection of drugs

A physicist from The University of Nottingham and a mathematical modeller from The University of Southampton are joining forces in the hope of answering a biological mystery - how do our bodies reject some of the drugs that are sent to cure us?

30 Nov 2008

Genomics and bioinformatics could be the future in battle against malaria

Malaria, one of the oldest diseases known to man, has shown no signs of slowing down as it ages.

26 Nov 2008

Live oral Shigella vaccine licensed to PATH

The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) has licensed a pediatric vaccine against Shigella bacteria to PATH, an international nonprofit group, to support clinical trials, with the goal of developing a vaccine suitable for children in resource-poor countries.

24 Nov 2008