The intensive implementation of currently available tools to fight malaria can achieve a drastic reduction in disease burden, but is not enough to interrupt its transmission. This is the main conclusion reached by the Mozambican ...
14 hours ago
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Pregnant women from sub-Saharan Africa with malaria and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have a higher prevalence of anemia than pregnant women without infections, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. ...
18 hours ago
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A study has found strong similarities between children withendemic Burkitt lymphoma—an aggressive cancer that attacks the body's defense system and children with silent malaria infection.
Aug 11, 2020
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Malaria-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 could be more than double those of 2019 if malaria-prevention activities are interrupted due to COVID-19, suggests a modeling study published in Nature Medicine.
Aug 10, 2020
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A study led by researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) could lead to new treatments for combating drug-resistant malaria, as well as boost existing drugs.
Aug 06, 2020
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Research published in Nature Communications shows that insecticide-treated mosquito nets, the mainstay in the global battle against malaria, are not providing the protection they once did—and scientists say that's a cause ...
Jul 28, 2020
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Researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) have discovered a vital clue as to why malaria vaccines keep failing, which could potentially change how vaccines for the deadly disease and others are made.
Jul 22, 2020
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Since the beginning of the pandemic, much work has been done to test whether antimalarial drugs can treat COVID-19. Hydroxychloroquine, the most well known, has been found to be ineffective. But in Africa, another drug has ...
Jul 14, 2020
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But there is still an opportunity to substantially reduce the death toll by prioritising the most critical services, specifically antiretroviral therapy for HIV, timely TB diagnosis and treatment, and provision of long-lasting ...
Jul 14, 2020
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A new approach could illuminate a critical stage in the life cycle of one of the most common malaria parasites. The approach was developed by scientists at Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences ...
Jul 03, 2020
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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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