Plasmodium falciparum News and Research

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Maternal antibodies may hinder malaria vaccine effectiveness in infants

Maternal antibodies passed across the placenta can interfere with the response to the malaria vaccine, which would explain its lower efficacy in infants under five months of age, according to research led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), in collaboration with seven African centers (CISM-Mozambique, IHI-Tanzania, CRUN-Burkina Faso, KHRC-Ghana, NNIMR-Ghana, CERMEL-Gabon, KEMRI-Kenya).

23 Oct 2024

WHO report highlights the role of vaccines in reducing antibiotic use

A new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) finds that vaccines against 24 pathogens could reduce the number of antibiotics needed by 22% or 2.5 billion defined daily doses globally every year, supporting worldwide efforts to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

10 Oct 2024

New drug MED6-189 shows promise against drug-resistant malaria

In 2022, nearly 619,000 global deaths due to malaria were caused by Plasmodium falciparum, the most virulent, prevalent, and deadly human malaria parasite.

26 Sep 2024

LSHTM receives £2.8m grant to tackle hidden malaria in India

Researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) have been awarded £2.8m to study factors sustaining malaria transmission in an area of India where infections are evading detection.

27 Aug 2024

Breakthrough malaria vaccine offers long-term protection for pregnant women

In a report published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases (Safety and efficacy of PfSPZ Vaccine against malaria in healthy adults and women anticipating pregnancy in Mali: two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 1 and 2 trials) a team led by investigators at the Malaria Research and Training Center (MRTC), Bamako, Mali; the Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology (LMIV), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health; and Sanaria Inc. describes the durable protective efficacy against malaria shown by Sanaria® PfSPZ Vaccine when administered to women prior to pregnancy.

14 Aug 2024

Experimental malaria vaccine shows promise in protecting pregnant women

Two National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported trials of an experimental malaria vaccine in healthy Malian adults found that all three tested regimens were safe.

14 Aug 2024

Urgent strategies needed to fight artemisinin resistance in East Africa

Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) have become the cornerstone of malaria treatment and control.

19 Jul 2024

SMART researchers identify key mechanism behind artemisinin resistance in malaria

Researchers from the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Interdisciplinary Research Group (IRG) at Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT's research enterprise in Singapore, in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), have discovered a link between malaria parasites' ability to develop resistance to antimalarial drugs – specifically artemisinin (ART) – through a cellular process called transfer Ribonucleic acid (tRNA) modification.

16 May 2024

New monoclonal antibody vaccine slashes malaria risk in children

A recent study demonstrates that the monoclonal antibody-based vaccine L9LS is safe for children aged 6 to 10 and significantly reduces the risk of malaria infection and clinical symptoms by 70% and 77%, respectively.

30 Apr 2024

Single dose of malaria monoclonal antibody 77% effective in children, trial in Mali shows

One injected dose of an experimental malaria monoclonal antibody was 77% effective against malaria disease in children in Mali during the country's six-month malaria season, according to the results of a mid-stage clinical trial.

26 Apr 2024

MIT study reveals circadian impact on drug metabolism in engineered livers

Giving drugs at different times of day could significantly affect how they are metabolized in the liver, according to a new study from MIT.

25 Apr 2024

New malaria vaccine strain shows promise in preclinical trials

In a report published on March 21, 2024 in EMBO Molecular Medicine (A replication competent Plasmodium falciparum parasite completely attenuated by dual gene deletion) investigators at Seattle Children's Research Institute and Sanaria Inc. describe the development of a whole malaria parasite vaccine strain that infects the liver, develops to the late liver stage, and then gets completely stuck and cannot burst out of the liver to cause symptomatic blood infection.

2 Apr 2024

"Copy-paste" genetic mechanism increases the genetic diversity of malaria parasite

By dissecting the genetic diversity of the most deadly human malaria parasite – Plasmodium falciparum – researchers at EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) have identified a mechanism of 'copy-paste' genetics that increases the genetic diversity of the parasite at accelerated time scales.

7 Mar 2024

Novel malaria test by Rice University offers rapid diagnosis and treatment

Rice University researchers have developed a rapid, accurate test for diagnosing malaria that is significantly faster and easier to use than traditional tests.

29 Feb 2024

Researchers discover protein key to toxoplasmosis pathogen multiplication

Researchers have identified a protein that evolved concurrently with the emergence of cellular compartments crucial for the multiplication of the toxoplasmosis pathogen.

16 Feb 2024

New structural insights pave the way for drug-resistant malaria therapies

Structural insights into a potent antimalarial drug candidate's interaction with the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum have paved the way for drug-resistant malaria therapies, according to a new study by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Van Andel Institute.

18 Jan 2024

Breakthrough in Malaria detection: new FREM platform delivers 98% accuracy for rapid screening and genotyping

The Flexible, Robust, Equipment-free Microfluidic (FREM) platform for malaria screening and Plasmodium species genotyping.

1 Dec 2023

Atovaquone "chemical vaccine" for malaria could be more feasible than thought

Johns Hopkins researchers looking to develop a long-acting, injectable malaria preventive using atovaquone have shown in a new study that resistance may not be the challenge scientists thought it was, particularly when using atovaquone as a malaria preventive.

20 Oct 2023

Can falsified or substandard antimicrobials increase antimicrobial resistance?

The association between substandard or falsified (SF) antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

5 Oct 2023

New artemisinin-resistant malaria parasite detected in Eritrea

Diagnosis of Plasmodium falciparum malaria using rapid diagnostic tests and treatment with artemisinin derivatives, the main component of the malaria treatments recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), are under threat in the Horn of Africa.

29 Sep 2023