Malaria News

February 21, 2025

Top Headlines

Promising New Class of Antimalarial Drugs Discovered

Feb. 20, 2025 — Epigenetic inhibitors as a promising new antimalarial intervention strategy? A new study identifies an inhibitor of gene regulation that specifically kills the malaria ...

Unraveling the Complex Role of Climate in Dengue Dynamics

Feb. 12, 2025 — A research team has unveiled new insights into how weather influences the spread of dengue fever. The study identifies temperature and rainfall as critical factors driving the global surge in dengue cases and offers actionable strategies for ...

Causes of Fevers of Unknown Origin in Sub-Saharan Africa

Feb. 11, 2025 — A new retrospective, laboratory-based observational study provides detailed insights into the causes of fevers of unknown origin in sub-Saharan Africa. Scientists examined 550 patients from Guinea who developed a persistent fever at the time of the ...

Scientists Explain How a Compound from Sea Sponge Exerts Its Biological Effects

Jan. 13, 2025 — Girolline, a compound extracted from the sea sponge Pseudaxinyssa cantharella, has been investigated for possible antitumor effects and also found to have anti-malarial effects. Now, researchers have ...

Latest Headlines

updated 8:13am EST

Essential Genome of Malaria Parasite Plasmodium Knowlesi Mapped

Feb. 6, 2025 — A new, comprehensive map of all the genes essential for blood infections in Plasmodium knowlesi (P. knowlesi), a parasite that causes malaria in humans, has been generated. The map contains the most ...

Hijacking of Plasmin by Dengue Virus for Infection

Feb. 3, 2025 — Biological scientists have uncovered how the dengue virus uses its envelope protein to capture human plasmin from a blood meal to enhance the permeability of the mosquito midgut for ...

High Uric Acid Levels Linked to Deadly Outcomes in Children With Severe Malaria

Jan. 27, 2025 — Researchers have uncovered a significant connection between elevated uric acid levels and life-threatening outcomes in children with severe ...

Mosquitoes Can Be Extra-Bitey in Droughts

Jan. 15, 2025 — Mosquitoes can survive prolonged droughts by drinking blood, which helps to explain why rates of mosquito-borne illness don't always decline in dry ...

Researchers Discover Class of Anti-Malaria Antibodies

Jan. 3, 2025 — Antibodies that bind to a previously untargeted portion of the malaria parasite could lead to new monoclonal antibody treatments and vaccines for ...

Discovery Provides Hope in Fighting Drug-Resistant Malaria

Dec. 18, 2024 — Researchers may have found a new target in fighting malaria -- a cholesterol-managing protein called ...

A New Approach to Predicting Malaria Drug Resistance

Nov. 28, 2024 — Researchers analyzed the genomes of hundreds of malaria parasites to determine which genetic variants are most likely to confer drug ...

Natural 'Biopesticide' Against Malaria Mosquitoes Successful in Early Field Tests

Dec. 4, 2024 — An experimental bacteria-derived biopesticide is highly effective in killing malaria-carrying mosquitoes, including those that have developed ...

Stopping Severe Malaria by Harnessing Natural Human Antibodies

Nov. 20, 2024 — Scientists have identified human antibodies capable of targeting the proteins responsible for severe malaria, potentially paving the way for new vaccines or treatments. Using organ-on-a-chip ...

Study Uncovers First Evidence of Resistance to Standard Malaria Treatment in African Children With Severe Malaria

Nov. 14, 2024 — An international team of researchers has uncovered evidence of partial resistance to artemisinin derivatives -- the primary treatment for malaria -- ...

From Pets to Pests: Researchers Explore New Tool to Fight Disease-Carrying Insects

Nov. 12, 2024 — Researchers are testing a product commonly used to treat ticks and fleas on pets to target fly and mosquito larvae with the goal of helping reduce the spread of diseases carried by these ...

Bacteria Breakthrough Could Accelerate Mosquito Control Schemes

Nov. 4, 2024 — Mosquito larvae grow faster if they're exposed to particular bacteria, according to a new study that could help global health ...

Maternal Antibodies Interfere With Malaria Vaccine Responses

Oct. 24, 2024 — 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 new ...

In a Warming World, Public Needs to Know More About Protections from Mosquito-Borne Illnesses

Oct. 8, 2024 — Driven in part by climate change, epidemics from mosquito-spread viruses are occurring with increasing frequency. Yet few among the American public are worried about getting West Nile or dengue virus ...

Scientists Take a Major Step in Understanding How to Stop the Transmission of Malaria

Oct. 1, 2024 — Scientists have uncovered how the parasite that causes malaria orchestrates their cell division -- which is key in enabling the parasite to transmit this deadly disease. They show how they have ...

Scientists Design New Drug to Fight Malaria

Sep. 26, 2024 — A team has designed a new drug against malaria and identified its mechanism of ...

Mapping the Sex Life of Malaria Parasites at Single Cell Resolution, Reveals the Genetics Underlying Malaria Transmission

Aug. 26, 2024 — Malaria is caused by a eukaryotic microbe of the Plasmodium genus, and is responsible for more deaths than all other parasitic diseases combined. In order to transmit from the human host to the ...

Mosquitoes Sense Infrared from Body Heat to Help Track Humans Down

Aug. 22, 2024 — While a mosquito bite is often no more than a temporary bother, in many parts of the world it can be scary. One mosquito species, Aedes aegypti, spreads the viruses that cause over 100,000,000 cases ...

What Time the Malaria-Bearing Mosquito Bites You Might Make a Difference

Aug. 19, 2024 — Circadian rhythms appear to influence vulnerability to malaria ...

Candidate Malaria Vaccine Provides Lasting Protection in NIH-Sponsored Trials

Aug. 14, 2024 — Recent trials of an experimental malaria vaccine in healthy Malian adults found that all three tested regimens were safe. One of the trials enrolled 300 healthy women ages 18 to 38 years who ...

Trojan Horse Method Gives Malaria Parasites a Taste of Their Own Medicine

Aug. 14, 2024 — More than a quarter of Australians over the age of 50 take cholesterol-lowering drugs to prevent heart disease and strokes, but our bodies also need cholesterol to survive. Now, scientists say its ...

The Unintended Consequences of Success Against Malaria

July 23, 2024 — The insecticide-treated bed nets and insecticide sprays that were so effective in preventing mosquito bites -- and therefore malaria -- are increasingly viewed as the causes of household pest ...

Controlling Mosquito Populations Through Genetic Breeding

July 22, 2024 — Researchers have found a new way to identify genetic targets useful for control of mosquito populations, potentially offering an alternative to insecticides. Their study focused on the genetic basis ...

Origin and Spread of Malaria

June 12, 2024 — Researchers have reconstructed the evolutionary history and global spread of malaria over the past 5,500 years, identifying trade, warfare, and colonialism as major catalysts for its ...

How Climate Change Will Affect Malaria Transmission

May 9, 2024 — A new model for predicting the effects of climate change on malaria transmission in Africa could lead to more targeted interventions to control the disease according to a new study. Previous methods ...

An Adjuvant Made in Yeast Could Lower Vaccine Cost and Boost Availability

May 8, 2024 — Adjuvants make vaccines more effective, though one of the best is an expensive extract from the soap bark tree. To lower the cost and avoid the laborious extraction process from bark, synthetic ...

Source of Pregnancy Complications from Infections Revealed by Placenta Map

May 3, 2024 — The placenta's response to infections from malaria, toxoplasmosis and listeria has been mapped in high resolution, possibly paving the way for new treatment ...

Deeper Understanding of Malaria Parasite Development Unlocks Opportunities to Block Disease Spread

May 2, 2024 — Natural malaria infections have been genetically analysed at a higher resolution than ever before, giving insights that could help understand and block ...

Malaria May Shorten Leukocyte Telomeres Among Sub-Saharan Africans

May 2, 2024 — The length of telomeres in white blood cells, known as leukocytes, varies significantly among sub-Saharan African populations, researchers report. Moreover, leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is ...

Circadian Rhythms Can Influence Drugs' Effectiveness

Apr. 25, 2024 — Researchers discovered that more than 300 liver genes are under circadian control: Circadian variations affect how much of a drug is available and how effectively the body can break it ...