image by: Ken Doerr

HWN Suggests

Mosquitoes Have Developed Resistance to Every One of Our Malaria-Fighting Tools

Over the last decade and a half, malaria rates globally have plummeted. In 2000, 839,000 people around the world died from malaria, according to the World Health Organization. In 2015, 438,000 did.

This reduction was achieved for the most part through a concerted global aid effort that focused on simple solutions with widespread distribution. Insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs) were handed out to expectant mothers and school kids to protect families from hungry mosquitoes while they slept. Homes were sprayed with long-lasting insecticide to kill the insects after a blood feed, before they can spread the parasite. Artemisinin combination therapy—the gold standard in antimalarial…

read full article

Featured

  We finally have malaria vaccines. The next hurdle: Distributing them.

Malaria kills half a million people a year in Africa. We can prevent that — if we act fast enough.

  WHO greenlights the world's first malaria vaccine — but it's not a perfect shot

The world's arsenal against malaria just got a fancy new bazooka. But it's not the easiest weapon to deploy, it only hits its target 30 to 40% of the time, and it's not yet clear who's going to pay for it.

  Why Is Malaria on the Rise Again?

In recent decades, strategies for combating malaria have emphasized distributing easy-to-use commodities – including insecticides, insecticide-treated mosquito nets, and artemisinin-based antimalarial drugs – and expanding access to prompt diagnosis. This approach is reaching its limits.

 A Malaria Mystery, Partly Solved: What Happens When the Rains End?

Each year malaria kills roughly 400,000 people, most of them children and pregnant women in Africa. Scientists have long known that most of those fevers and deaths occur during the rainy months, when mosquitoes abound. But how does the disease persist during the long dry seasons, when almost no one falls ill and there are few mosquitoes to carry the tiny malaria parasite from one human host to another?

 A pivotal test of malaria vaccine is set to begin. Can it live up to its promise?

Researchers are preparing to launch a pivotal test of an important malaria vaccine this month — one that global health leaders believe could eventually lead to big reductions in the number of cases and deaths worldwide. Despite those high hopes, there are also concerns that the theoretical benefits of the vaccine, made by GSK, might not translate into the real world.

 At Long Last, Can Malaria Be Eradicated?

Two new vaccines may finally turn back an ancient plague. But in unexpected ways, their arrival also complicates the path to ending the disease.

 Effect of the ABO blood group on susceptibility to severe malaria: A systematic review and meta-analysis

This study showed higher probability of severe P. falciparum infection among individuals with blood group A, B and AB than in those with blood group O.

 Malaria Vaccine Took 30 Years. It's Still a Work in Progress

With more than 5,000 genes, it’s a complicated microbe, and the pursuit of a vaccine has led to numerous dead ends, Hamel said. Early development of the Glaxo shot began around 1984. As the pilot starts in Africa, scientists are looking to the potential next generation of technology. “This is the first malaria vaccine,” she said, “not the last.”

 Scientists engineer mosquito STD to combat malaria

The fungus is fatal to mosquitoes, but harmless to humans.

 The Fight to End Malaria

Years ago, doctors treated the infected with quinine drugs, but today artemisinin-based combination treatments (ACTs) are accepted as the best treatments for malaria. Artemisinin, which China isolated in 1965 and earned scientist Tu Youyou the Nobel Prize, quickly reduces fevers and rapidly lowers blood-parasite levels. However, resistance to artemisinin emerged in Southeast Asia about 15 years ago. More recent studies have confirmed that malaria parasites resistant to ACTs have emerged in three disease-prone areas, Rwanda, Uganda and the Horn of Africa, with no immediate replacement available. There is also a vaccines on the market that shows efficacy against malaria, but not potent enough to bring down incidence the way the smallpox vaccine eradicated that virus in the 1960s and 1970s. Other vaccines are in the pipeline. Rising resistance to insecticide-treated nets remain a major concern in Africa, while malaria parasites are escaping detection from the most widely used diagnostic tests.

 To fight malaria, scientists want to poison mosquitoes—with human blood

Low doses of a drug already approved for treating rare genetic conditions in humans kills mosquitoes dead. Scientists say it could be a valuable new tool in the fight against disease.

Articles of Interest

'Gene Drive' Mosquitoes Engineered to Fight Malaria

Mutant mozzies could rapidly spread through wild populations.

A Warning From the Heart of Malaria Research

Despite a sharp drop in malaria-related deaths over the past decade, a veteran doctor here, in the heart of the world’s malaria belt, says now is the time to wage a large-scale battle with the mosquito-borne disease.

Advances and challenges in malaria vaccine development

Thus far, we have no malaria vaccine, and it is not clear that a highly effective vaccine is in the pipeline. This may be due in part to a relative scarcity of research funding; in recent years global funding for malaria vaccine development has barely reached 25% of the approximately $684 million invested in the development of a still-elusive HIV/AIDS vaccine.

Cheryl Cole's Killer Vacation?

Malaria is a potentially fatal disease but the good news is that it is preventable, so plan wisely and prepare for healthy and happy travels - GlaxoSmithKline

Fatal Malaria in the U.S. More Common Than Previously Known

Serious and fatal bouts of malaria in the United States are a greater problem than has been previously reported, according to a new study. Most appear to be in immigrants who have made summer or Christmas visits to their home countries without taking precautions against infection.

Fighting malaria is going to take more than just nets

In January, the New York Times highlighted how insecticide treated nets meant to protect people from mosquitoes and malaria are now being used to haul fish in Africa. Among those using these nets to catch fish, hunger today is a bigger risk than malaria tomorrow. For those who have experienced life in countries like Nigeria, where malaria is endemic, the report does not come as a surprise. The nets are an important tool for preventing malaria, but without investing in infrastructure and engaging effectively with communities, it’s hardly surprising that these nets are not always used as intended.

For 40 years, no one knew this woman discovered a malaria cure. Now she's won a Nobel.

For years, Tu's role in unlocking artemisinin was shrouded in secret — until researchers at the National Institutes of Health looked into the drug’s history and realized that Tu deserved credit for her work. Only in 2011, when she won the prestigious Lasker prize for medical research, did the Chinese Communist Party move to preserve her childhood home. In a statement, Tu called artemisinin "a gift for the world’s people from traditional Chinese medicine," and urged researchers to turn to herbs in the search for cures for infectious diseases.

Malaria - Are We Finally Approaching Eradication?

Maybe, just maybe, malaria has met its match. It remains to be seen.

Malaria Elimination―Not Just a Bunch of Hocus-Pocus

While progress is starting to plateau in many highly malaria-endemic countries, several other countries either have eliminated, or are on the verge of eliminating, malaria. Paraguay and Uzbekistan recently celebrated their initiation into the malaria elimination club, receiving certification by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Malaria Is On Your Doorstep. It Happened To Me, It Could Happen To You

This doesn’t just happen to people at the other side of the globe. This nearly killed me.

Malaria study challenges warmer world predictions

A world with "rampant" malaria transmission is often seen as an inevitable consequence of global warming. But a new study radically challenges existing ideas of how the disease will spread with rising temperatures.

Malaria's Last Stand

Malaria's Last Stand is an expository look at the ongoing burden of one of humanity's oldest diseases.

Philanthropy King: Bill Gates Gives Away $4.6 Billion, Unveils New Campaign To Combat Malaria

In addition to distributing insecticide-treated bed nets, the Gates Foundation is also seeking to educate the public about the fight against malaria.

Public health challenges and prospects for malaria control and elimination

The ongoing efforts in research and development for new antimalarial drugs, more sensitive point-of-care rapid diagnostic tests and new insecticides need further innovation and substantial strengthening. Clearly, efforts should focus not only on Plasmodium falciparum but also and increasingly on Plasmodium vivax, the neglected human malaria parasite. Addressing these challenges in a comprehensive and timely way will allow us to sustain the gains made so far and make further progress in control and progressive elimination.

Rapid Malaria Tests Work, but With Unexpected Drawbacks

A study found that rapid tests have greatly improved treatment, but that many people who tested positive still did not get the proper drugs or were overprescribed antibiotics.

Report outlines challenges and opportunities facing malaria research

Research aiming to improve the delivery of proven, cost-effective interventions to reduce the burden of malaria must go hand-in-hand with studies to understand the biology underlying infection and develop new antimalarial tools, a report from the Wellcome Trust has concluded.

The Civil War and Malaria

A patriotic appeal to fight against a common scourge in 1861: malaria.

The Fever

In recent years, malaria has emerged as a cause celebre for voguish philanthropists. Bill Gates, Bono, and Laura Bush are only a few of the personalities who have lent their names—and opened their pocketbooks—in hopes of stopping the disease. Still, in a time when every emergent disease inspires waves of panic, why aren’t we doing more to tame one of our oldest foes? And how does a pathogen that we’ve known how to prevent for more than a century still infect 500 million people every year, killing nearly one million of them? In The Fever, journalist Sonia Shah sets out to answer those questions, delivering a timely, inquisitive chronicle of the illness and its influence on human lives.

The Imperial Cocktail

Eventually it became clear that cinchona bark could be used not only to treat malaria, but also to prevent it. The bark—and its active ingredient, quinine powder—was a powerful medicine. But it was also a powerful new weapon in the European quest to conquer and rule distant lands.

The Malaria Misstep: Let African Scientists Solve Our Own Problems

A long-term outcome of my own experience with malaria and that of my friend is that I have dedicated my professional career to finding innovative ways to stop the spread of malaria infection in Africa. One of the biggest obstacles I see is that despite Africans suffering from malaria infection the most, 92 percent of malaria deaths in 2015 occurred on the African continent, the majority of the research against malaria takes place outside the African continent. This makes no sense.

The Parasite That Lures Mosquitoes to Humans

new study in Science actually illuminates how the parasite in human blood draws mosquitoes, manipulating the bugs into flying malaria-dispersal machines.

The WHO vs. the Tea Doctor

For once, an herbal remedy actually works. Why are malaria experts against it? The tea comes from sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua), the Chinese plant that is a source for the world's most powerful anti-malarial treatments, which combine artemisinin derivatives with an older class of drugs. It can also be grown in wetter parts of Africa, and a year’s supply costs no more than a few dollars.

To overcome challenges in Africa's malaria response, focus on testing, treatment at community level

"Significant investment in malaria research has yielded effective interventions such as insecticide treated nets (ITNs), indoor residual spraying (IRS) and artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) to control the disease, but its burden continues to be felt among the poorest,"

Two Ways of Making Malaria-Proof Mosquitoes

By harnessing the microbes that live inside these bloodsucking insects, scientists are trying to stop them from spreading disease.

We're Closer Than Ever to Wiping Out Malaria

We're closer than ever to eradicating malaria, but not there yet. If we don't double down, we risk losing all the progress that's been made.

We’re winning the war on malaria — and saving millions of lives in the process

We're actually at a point where the World Malaria Day theme — "End Malaria For Good" — no longer sounds like a pipe dream. The Nature study found that the campaign to fight malaria has reduced the transmission rate of the disease so dramatically in areas across Africa that about 121 million people now live in places where the disease could plausibly be eradicated...

What It's Like to Have Malaria 50 Times

Dr. John Lusingu has dedicated his career to studying malaria and searching for a vaccine.

Resources

Against Malaria Foundation

We help protect people from malaria. We fund anti-malaria nets specifically long-lasting insecticidal nets, and work with distribution partners to ensure they are used. We track and report on net use and malaria case data.

Malaria Consortium

Malaria Consortium works in partnership with communities, health systems, government and non-government agencies, academic institutions and local and international organisations to ensure good evidence supports delivery of effective services. Together, we work to secure access for groups most at risk, to prevention, care and treatment of malaria and other communicable diseases.

Malaria No More

Malaria No More is determined to end malaria deaths. A non-profit, non-governmental organization, Malaria No More makes high-yield investments of time and capital to speed progress, unlock resources, mobilize new assets and spur the world toward reaching this goal.

Medicines for Malaria Venture

MMV, a not-for-profit public-private partnership, was established as a foundation in Switzerland in 1999. It is dedicated to reducing the burden of malaria in disease-endemic countries by discovering, developing and facilitating delivery of new, effective and affordable antimalarial drugs.

RBM Partnership to End Malaria

The RBM Partnership to End Malaria is the largest global platform for coordinated action towards a world free from malaria. It is comprised of over 500 partners - from community health worker groups and researchers developing new tools, to malaria-affected and donor countries, businesses and international organisations.

Shrinking the Malaria Map

The Malaria Elimination Initiative (MEI) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Global Health Group believes global malaria eradication through regional elimination is possible within a generation. We develop innovative, strategic, and evidence-based solutions for countries and regions to eliminate malaria.

United Against Malaria

Join the winning team that will beat malaria. We have the tools and the momentum. Now we need you.

Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

Malaria and Infectious Diseases in Africa

The primary objective of this publication is to give African malariologists the opportunity to know each other, exchange views, find out who is doing what and to envisage the possibilities for south-south collaboration in research.

Malaria Diagnostics

PATH works to ensure that diagnostic tools to improve malaria case management and contribute to elimination are available and accessible to malaria endemic populations. We collaborate with partners to develop, evaluate, and commercialize highly sensitive tests to detect low-density infections and point-of-care tests for G6PD deficiency to guide treatment of patients with Plasmodium vivax.

Malaria Journal

Malaria Journal is aimed at the scientific community interested in malaria in its broadest sense. It is the only journal that publishes exclusively articles on malaria and, as such, it aims to bring together knowledge from the different specialties involved in this very broad discipline, from the bench to the bedside and to the field.

PATH

It’s a big job. But at PATH, we’re experienced. We’re passionate. We’re driven. We’re looking ahead to turn research into innovation and problems into plans. Because that’s what a path is—a way forward.

allAfrica

Malaria Top News Stories.

CDC

People with malaria often experience fever, chills, and flu-like illness. Left untreated, they may develop severe complications and die. In 2010 an estimated 216 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide and 655,000 people died, most (91%) in the African Region.

DPDx

Welcome to DPDx, a Web site developed and maintained by CDC''s Division of Parasitic Diseases (DPD). Our goal is to use the Internet to strengthen diagnosis of parasitic diseases, both in the United States and abroad.

MedlinePlus

Malaria is a serious disease caused by a parasite. Infected mosquitoes spread it. Malaria is a major cause of death worldwide, but it is almost wiped out in the United States. The disease is mostly a problem in developing countries with warm climates. If you travel to these countries, you are at risk. There are four different types of malaria caused by four related parasites. The most deadly type occurs in Africa south of the Sahara Desert.

SciDev Net

Controlling a disease as entrenched as malaria, which kills over one million people a year '' mostly young children in sub-Saharan Africa '' is an enormous challenge. New policies, strategies and solutions are urgently needed.

WHO

The World Malaria Report 2012 summarizes information received from 104 malaria-endemic countries and other sources, and updates the analyses presented in the 2011 report. It highlights the progress made towards the global malaria targets set for 2015 and describes current challenges for global malaria control and elimination.