Plasmodium falciparum News and Research

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Basigin does not facilitate SARS-CoV-2 entry, say researchers

Researchers investigated the significance of a transmembrane glycoprotein basigin, or CD147, as a host cell co-receptor required for the entry of SARS-CoV-2. The findings reveal that recombinant human basigin does not interact with full-length spike protein or spike RBD of SARS-CoV-2.

24 Feb 2021

World's largest resource of genome variation data on malaria parasites released

Genome variation data on more than 7,000 malaria parasites from 28 endemic countries is released today (24 February) in Wellcome Open Research.

24 Feb 2021

Countries with older populations have higher SARS-CoV-2 infections and deaths, says study

A new study examines some patterns revealed by a study of the factors operating in different regions and countries, to offer plausible hypotheses of these variations.

23 Feb 2021

Cone snail venom could potentially treat severe forms of malaria

Severe forms of malaria such as Plasmodium falciparum may be deadly even after treatment with current parasite-killing drugs.

18 Feb 2021

Development of malaria vaccines deserves urgent attention just like COVID-19

Developing vaccines to fight malaria deserves urgent attention just like COVID-19, argues Damaris Matoke-Muhia.

17 Feb 2021

New findings could help better understand the mechanisms underlying severe malaria

The levels of small molecules called microRNAs (miRNAs) circulating in blood could help identify early on children with life-threatening forms of malaria, according to a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, an institution supported by "la Caixa" Foundation, in collaboration with the Manhiça Health Research Center (CISM) in Mozambique.

13 Jan 2021

Multiple blood feeding by mosquitoes may increase malaria transmission

Multiple bouts of blood feeding by mosquitoes shorten the incubation period for malaria parasites and increase malaria transmission potential, according to a study published December 31 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Lauren Childs of Virginia Tech, Flaminia Catteruccia of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and colleagues.

4 Jan 2021

Population mobility patterns could help address malaria in the Amazon, say scientists

Understanding population mobility patterns could hold the key to tackling malaria in the Amazon, say scientists. Malaria has traditionally been seen as a rural scourge, but increasingly it is being documented in or near urban areas, experts warn, as a new study shows that human mobility plays an important role in the "urbanization" of the disease.

17 Dec 2020

School children with no malaria symptoms could be super-spreaders of the disease

School-age children with no malaria symptoms could serve as super-spreaders of the disease, an observation that could open a new chapter on malaria control, a meeting has heard. The new findings from a study that was conducted in Uganda were reported at the virtual annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene last month (18 November).

3 Dec 2020

Lancaster University to help control the spread of invasive malaria mosquito

Lancaster University is involved in a major research project which aims to control the spread of an invasive malaria mosquito in Sudan and Ethiopia.

20 Nov 2020

Exposure to artemisinin drug could increase sexual conversion rate of malaria parasite

Exposure to suboptimal doses of the antiparasitic drug artemisinin could increase the sexual conversion rate of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, thereby increasing the probability of transmission, according to a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an institution supported by "la Caixa" Foundation.

29 Oct 2020

Study reveals sex-based differences in clearance of asymptomatic malaria infections

Females are able to clear asymptomatic malaria infections at a faster rate than their male counterparts, says a study published today in eLife.

27 Oct 2020

Study offers new insight on molecular mechanisms that allow malaria parasites to spread disease

New insight on the molecular mechanisms that allow malaria parasites to move and spread disease within their hosts has been published today in the open-access eLife journal.

14 Oct 2020

Molecular stilts help deadly parasites to invade host cells

In biological terms, gliding refers to the type of movement during which a cell moves along a surface without changing its shape. This form of movement is unique to parasites from the phylum Apicomplexa, such as Plasmodium and Toxoplasma.

13 Oct 2020

Understanding how the malaria parasite can withstand fever's heat

Even when a person suffering from malaria is burning up with fever and too sick to function, the tiny blood-eating parasites lurking inside them continue to flourish, relentlessly growing and multiplying as they gobble up the host's red blood cells.

5 Oct 2020

Focusing on human enzymes and not SARS-CoV-2 could help treat COVID-19

Now, breakthrough research into malaria suggests targeting enzymes from the human host, rather than from the pathogen itself. The new research could pave the way for effective treatments for a wide range of infectious diseases, including the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

11 Aug 2020

Scientists detect emergence and spread of artemisinin-resistant malaria parasites in Rwanda

Resistance to artemisinin, the main component of the current antimalarial treatments recommended by WHO, is already widespread in South-East Asia, but it had not previously been described in Africa.

5 Aug 2020

Scientists discover new set of channels that link deadliest malaria parasite and blood cells

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions have discovered another set of pore-like holes, or channels, traversing the membrane-bound sac that encloses the deadliest malaria parasite as it infects red blood cells.

30 Jul 2020

Tomocube holotomography microscopy reveals novel cholesterol membrane transport system in erythrocytes infected with fatal malaria parasite

The first study to elucidate the dynamics of membrane cholesterol transport in erythrocytes has been successfully concluded using holotomography microscopy.

From Tomocube Inc. 24 Jun 2020

New discovery could open door to next generation malaria vaccine

In an unprecedented first, scientists at Seattle Children's Research Institute have developed a genetically attenuated parasite (GAP) that arrests late in the liver stage of human malaria.

16 Jun 2020