Latest Plasmodium falciparum Stories

Malaria Revealed As Ancient, Adaptive And Persistent Foe One of the most comprehensive analyses yet done of the ancient history of insect-borne disease concludes for the first time that malaria is not only native to the New World, but it has been present long before humans existed and has evolved through birds and monkeys. The findings, presented in a recent issue of American Entomologist by researchers from Oregon State University, are based on the study of insect specimens preserved...

A new research technology is revealing how humans develop immunity to malaria, and could assist programs aimed at eradicating this parasitic disease. Dr Alyssa Barry from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute’s Infection and Immunity division is using ‘protein microarray’ technology to screen human blood serum samples for immunity to proteins produced by the malaria-causing Plasmodium falciparum parasite. Her research, which determines a person’s immunity to hundreds of proteins...

A new malaria vaccine could be the first to tackle different forms of the disease and help those most vulnerable to infection, a study suggests A new malaria vaccine could be the first to tackle different forms of the disease and help those most vulnerable to infection, a study suggests. The new vaccine is designed to trigger production of a range of antibodies to fight the many different types of parasite causing the disease. Scientists created the vaccine by combining multiple...

LONDON, BRUSSELS, SEATTLE and NEW YORK, Oct. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- First results from a large-scale Phase III trial of RTS,S, published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), show the malaria vaccine candidate to provide young African children with significant protection against clinical and severe malaria with an acceptable safety and tolerability profile. The results were announced today at the Malaria Forum hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in...

Study in Benin, Africa finds indoor spraying with the insecticide bendiocarb reduced infectious mosquito bites to near zero; and offers effective tool for malaria control strategy in areas rife with pyrethroid-resistance Indoor spraying with the insecticide bendiocarb has dramatically decreased malaria transmission in many parts of Benin, new evidence that insecticides remain a potent weapon for fighting malaria in Africa despite the rapid rise of resistance to an entire class of...

Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Monash University, and Virginia Tech have used a set of novel inhibitors to analyze how the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, uses enzymes to chew up human hemoglobin from host red blood cells as a food source. They have validated that two of these parasite enzymes called peptidases are potential anti-malarial drug targets. The research appeared in the Aug. 15 early online issue of the Proceedings of the...

Blood-Stage Vaccine Would Prevent Illness and Transmission of Deadly Disease BALTIMORE, Sept, 14, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Scientists have identified the first effective blood-stage malaria vaccine, according to a New England Journal of Medicine study from University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers, in collaboration with the University of Bamako in Mali, West Africa, and other partners. Development of a blood-stage vaccine has been a major goal of malaria prevention...

Vaccine is first of its kind to earn FDA approval to test in humans For the first time, a malaria vaccine that uses the entire malaria parasite has proven safe and shown promise to produce a strong immune response in a clinical trial, according to a new study co-authored by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine Center for Vaccine Development. The vaccine is unique in that it employs the entire malaria parasite, while most experimental malaria vaccines consist of just...

Using live but weakened malaria parasites as the basis of a vaccine represents a potentially encouraging anti-malaria strategy, according to results of follow-up animal studies performed after the conclusion of a recent clinical trial in humans. The research was conducted by scientists at the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, working in concert with a large team of collaborators. The findings...

Findings Provide Evidence that Vaccine is Safe and Potent Clinical Trials in U.S. and Africa to Follow ROCKVILLE, Md., Sept. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Positive results from the initial Phase 1 clinical trial in 80 healthy volunteers and complementary pre-clinical studies of the Sanaria® PfSPZ Vaccine are published today in the online issue of Science (www.sciencexpress.org). "This is the first indication that a highly effective malaria vaccine may be available that can be used to...