Malaria News and Research RSS Feed - Malaria News and Research Twitter

Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite called Plasmodium - when infected mosquitoes bite the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver, and then infect red blood cells. Even though this potentially fatal disease can be prevented and cured, each year 350-500 million cases of malaria still occur worldwide, and over one million people die, most of them young children in Africa south of the Sahara, where one in every five (20%) childhood deaths is due to the effects of the disease.

Malaria is so common in Africa because a lack of resources and political instability have prevented the building of solid malaria control programs. Experts say an African child has on average between 1.6 and 5.4 episodes of malaria fever each year and according to the World Health Organization (WHO) as many as half of the world's population are at risk of malaria mainly in the world's poorest and most vulnerable countries and every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria.
Government of Equatorial Guinea to improve all hospitals in the country

Government of Equatorial Guinea to improve all hospitals in the country

The government of Equatorial Guinea is working to renovate all the hospitals in the country within the next four years, according to Minister of Health Tomas Mecheba Fernandez Galilea. [More]
New LAMP malaria test to improve diagnosis for imported UK cases

New LAMP malaria test to improve diagnosis for imported UK cases

A new, highly sensitive blood test that quickly detects even the lowest levels of malaria parasites in the body could make a dramatic difference in efforts to tackle the disease in the UK and across the world, according to new research published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. [More]
Scientists identify 4 genes in baboons that influence levels of bad cholesterol

Scientists identify 4 genes in baboons that influence levels of bad cholesterol

Scientists at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio have identified four genes in baboons that influence levels of "bad" cholesterol. This discovery could lead to the development of new drugs to reduce the risk of heart disease. [More]
Melbourne scientists' discovery may pave way for developing antimalarial drugs

Melbourne scientists' discovery may pave way for developing antimalarial drugs

Melbourne scientists have made the surprise discovery that malaria parasites can 'talk' to each other - a social behaviour to ensure the parasite's survival and improve its chances of being transmitted to other humans. [More]
Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals recognized as a rare disease pioneer

Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals recognized as a rare disease pioneer

Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that the Company was recognized last evening as a rare disease pioneer at the 30th anniversary celebration of The National Organization for Rare Disorders. [More]
Leptospirosis: The newest public health threat in Africa

Leptospirosis: The newest public health threat in Africa

The newest public health threat in Africa, scientists have found, is coming from a previously unknown source: the banded mongoose. [More]

Virginia Tech researchers identify leptospirosis as a major health threat in Botswana

The newest public health threat in developing countries may not be a cinematic-quality emerging disease but actually a disease from animals that was identified more than 100 years ago. [More]
New study provides clear picture of the impact and causes of diarrheal diseases

New study provides clear picture of the impact and causes of diarrheal diseases

A new international study published today in The Lancet provides the clearest picture yet of the impact and most common causes of diarrheal diseases, the second leading killer of young children globally, after pneumonia. [More]

New test determines which children with malaria are likely to develop cerebral malaria

Researchers at Michigan State University have identified a test that can determine which children with malaria are likely to develop cerebral malaria, a much more life-threatening form of the disease. [More]
Study shows malaria transmission can be controlled by using bacteria

Study shows malaria transmission can be controlled by using bacteria

Mosquitoes are deadly efficient disease transmitters. Research conducted at Michigan State University, however, demonstrates that they also can be equally adept in curing diseases such as malaria. [More]
AHF, KANCO organize NO RETREAT ON AIDS march to call for more global HIV/AIDS funding

AHF, KANCO organize NO RETREAT ON AIDS march to call for more global HIV/AIDS funding

Concerned that key partners in the fight against HIV & AIDS like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief are losing funding due to government cuts, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, in conjunction with Kenya AIDS NGOs Consortium, have organized a NO RETREAT ON AIDS march from Jevanjee Gardens to Uhuru Park on Friday May 10, 2013 to protest the loss of lifesaving and much-needed funding. [More]
Aeras receives grant to support the development of vaccines against TB, HIV and malaria

Aeras receives grant to support the development of vaccines against TB, HIV and malaria

Aeras, a nonprofit biotech advancing TB vaccines for the world, the University of Oxford and Okairos, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in T-cell vaccines, today announced a $2.9 million grant to Aeras in support of a collaboration among the three parties to support the development of vaccines against tuberculosis, HIV and malaria. [More]
Mount Sinai researcher presents novel findings in environmental health at PAS annual meeting

Mount Sinai researcher presents novel findings in environmental health at PAS annual meeting

Toxic waste sites with elevated levels of lead and chromium cause a high number of "healthy years of life lost" in individuals living near 373 sites located in India, Philippines and Indonesia, according to a study by a Mount Sinai researcher published online today in Environmental Health Perspectives. [More]

Researchers study how malaria mosquitoes find their host

Malaria mosquitoes go to work cautiously before landing on human skin and biting. Just before a mosquito lands, it reacts to both odours and heat given off by the human body. [More]

Study identifies the vector that transmitted malaria from apes to humans

In 2010, a study revealed that the main agent of malaria in humans, called Plasmodium falciparum, arose from the gorilla. Today, the vector which transmitted the parasite from apes to humans has just been identified. [More]

Congress should maintain support of global health programs 'despite fiscal challenges'

"U.S. support for global health has had a major impact around the world, particularly our contributions to fighting malaria through the President's Malaria Initiative and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria," Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.), co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases, and Steve Davis, CEO of PATH, write in a Washington Times opinion piece. [More]
PBS blog features stories looking at mobile technology and health in Africa

PBS blog features stories looking at mobile technology and health in Africa

PBS's "Rundown" blog features two stories as part of the "Cheers Report," a "series of reports on the impact of mobile technology and health in 10 African countries." [More]
At library dedication, U.S. presidents praise Bush for work on HIV/AIDS, malaria while in office

At library dedication, U.S. presidents praise Bush for work on HIV/AIDS, malaria while in office

Last week, "[t]he George W. Bush Presidential Library dedication brought together five living presidents who have been at odds about much of the 43rd president's foreign policy legacy, particularly the Iraq war ... [b]ut they all agreed on, and offered effusive praise for, Bush's work on Africa," ABC News' "The Note" blog reports. [More]

Al Jazeera programs examine vaccine funding, efforts to fight malaria, TB, HIV

Al Jazeera's "Inside Story" on Friday examined whether funding and political will can keep pace with efforts to vaccinate every child worldwide. The 25-minute video program, "with presenter Shiulie Ghosh, discusses with guests: Kate Elder from Doctors Without Borders; Adel Mahmoud, a global health specialist at Princeton University, and former president of Merck Vaccines," Al Jazeera writes. [More]

Opinion pieces address World Malaria Day

On Thursday, the international community recognized World Malaria Day, observed annually on April 25. This year's theme was "Invest in the future. Defeat malaria." [More]