Plasmodium falciparum News and Research

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Scientific study confirms harmful effect of submicroscopic malarial infections during pregnancy

A scientific study conducted in Benin by researchers from IRD and the Centre for study and research on pregnancy associated malaria and infancy (CERPAGE, Benin) confirms the harmful impact of submicroscopic malarial infections during pregnancy. These complications include maternal anaemia, premature births and low birthweights in children.

28 Apr 2015

Researchers pinpoint new mechanism responsible for malaria progression

A team of researchers from four universities has pinpointed one of the mechanisms responsible for the progression of malaria, providing a new target for possible treatments.

28 Apr 2015

GenVec, Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology sign research collaboration agreement

GenVec, Inc. today announced that it has signed a research collaboration agreement with the Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health.

21 Apr 2015

Study explores artemisinin resistance in Plasmodium falciparum malaria

According to the World Health Organization's 2014 World Malaria Report, there are an estimated 198 million cases of malaria worldwide with 3.3 billion people at risk for contracting the infection. Although the impact of malaria is still significant, the statistics reflect a considerable reduction in the global malaria burden. Since 2010, disease transmission has been reduced by 30 percent and mortality due to malaria has decreased by almost half.

21 Apr 2015

Malaria parasites with Ap2mu gene mutation less sensitive to antimalarial drug artemisinin

Early indicators of the malaria parasite in Africa developing resistance to the most effective drug available have been confirmed, according to new research published in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

20 Apr 2015

Blood group O provides protection against severe malaria

It has long been known that people with blood type O are protected from dying of severe malaria. In a study published in Nature Medicine, a team of Scandinavian scientists explains the mechanisms behind the protection that blood type O provides, and suggest that the selective pressure imposed by malaria may contribute to the variable global distribution of ABO blood groups in the human population.

10 Mar 2015

Researchers reveal how malaria parasite deploys genetic trickery to escape immune system attack

Up to one million people -- mainly pregnant woman and young children -- are killed each year by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, which causes the most devastating form of human malaria.

26 Feb 2015

Researchers develop novel approach to identify potential antimalarial drugs

Each year nearly 600,000 people--mostly children under age five and pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa--die from malaria, caused by single-celled parasites that grow inside red blood cells. The most deadly malarial species--Plasmodium falciparum--has proven notoriously resistant to treatment efforts.

12 Feb 2015

Researchers identify molecular pathways that could lead to new therapeutic targets for cerebral malaria

A drug already approved for treating other diseases may be useful as a treatment for cerebral malaria, according to researchers at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. They discovered a novel link between food intake during the early stages of infection and the outcome of the disease, identifying two molecular pathways that could serve as new targets for treatment.

30 Jan 2015

Study unveils genetic architecture that enables parasite to develop antimalarial drug resistance

The largest genome-wide association study to date of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum unveils a complex genetic architecture that enables the parasite to develop resistance to our most effective antimalarial drug, artemisinin. The results could help to improve early detection of emerging artemisinin resistance.

20 Jan 2015

Study finds that K13 gene mutations cause malaria drug resistance in Southeast Asia

Growing resistance to malaria drugs in Southeast Asia is caused by a single mutated gene inside the disease-causing Plasmodium falciparum parasite, according to a study led by David Fidock, PhD, professor of microbiology & immunology and of medical sciences (in medicine) at Columbia University Medical Center.

12 Dec 2014

Researchers develop nanomimics of host cell membranes that trick malaria parasites

Malaria parasites invade human red blood cells, they then disrupt them and infect others. Researchers at the University of Basel and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute have now developed so-called nanomimics of host cell membranes that trick the parasites. This could lead to novel treatment and vaccination strategies in the fight against malaria and other infectious diseases.

9 Dec 2014

Promising anti-malarial compound uses novel mechanism to kill malaria parasite

An international research collaborative has determined that a promising anti-malarial compound tricks the immune system to rapidly destroy red blood cells infected with the malaria parasite but leave healthy cells unharmed. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists led the study, which appears in the current online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

5 Dec 2014

Melbourne researcher wins Sornchai Looareesuwan Medal for research on malaria

Melbourne researcher Professor Alan Cowman has won the Sornchai Looareesuwan Medal 2014 for his significant contributions to understanding how the malaria parasite causes disease and for his search for potential malaria vaccines.

4 Dec 2014

Researchers come up with new technique to diagnose malaria

Over the past several decades, malaria diagnosis has changed very little. After taking a blood sample from a patient, a technician smears the blood across a glass slide, stains it with a special dye, and looks under a microscope for the Plasmodium parasite, which causes the disease.

1 Sep 2014

Scientists identify number of compounds to treat cancer could add to anti-malarial arsenal

Scientists searching for new drugs to fight malaria have identified a number of compounds -- some of which are currently in clinical trials to treat cancer -- that could add to the anti-malarial arsenal.

26 Aug 2014

Researchers use optical tweezers to measure how strongly parasites adhere to red blood cells

Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by a parasite that invades one red blood cell after another. Little is known about this infection process because it happens so quickly, potentially explaining why there is currently no approved malaria vaccine.

20 Aug 2014

Plasmodium falciparum News and Research

Scientific study confirms harmful effect of submicroscopic malarial infections during pregnancy

Researchers pinpoint new mechanism responsible for malaria progression

GenVec, Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology sign research collaboration agreement

Study explores artemisinin resistance in Plasmodium falciparum malaria

Malaria parasites with Ap2mu gene mutation less sensitive to antimalarial drug artemisinin

Blood group O provides protection against severe malaria

Researchers reveal how malaria parasite deploys genetic trickery to escape immune system attack

Researchers develop novel approach to identify potential antimalarial drugs

Researchers identify molecular pathways that could lead to new therapeutic targets for cerebral malaria

Study unveils genetic architecture that enables parasite to develop antimalarial drug resistance

Study finds that K13 gene mutations cause malaria drug resistance in Southeast Asia

Researchers develop nanomimics of host cell membranes that trick malaria parasites

Promising anti-malarial compound uses novel mechanism to kill malaria parasite

Melbourne researcher wins Sornchai Looareesuwan Medal for research on malaria

Researchers come up with new technique to diagnose malaria

Scientists identify number of compounds to treat cancer could add to anti-malarial arsenal

Researchers use optical tweezers to measure how strongly parasites adhere to red blood cells

Injecting vaccine-like compound into mice effective in protecting from malaria

New approach to knocking out parasite's genes

Combination therapy effective in treating drug-resistant malaria

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