Close Topic Options

Malaria - Page 3

Study may help explain why iron can worsen malaria infection. Researchers have a possible explanation for why iron can sometimes worsen malaria infection. By studying mice and samples from malaria patients, the researchers found that extra iron interferes with ferroportin, a protein that prevents a toxic buildup of iron in red blood cells and helps protect these cells against malaria infection. They also found that a mutant form of ferroportin that occurs in African populations appears to protect against malaria. Source 1q.

Malaria

How malaria parasites withstand a fever's heat. The parasites that cause 200 million cases of malaria each year can withstand feverish temperatures that make their human hosts miserable. Now, a team is beginning to understand how they do it. The researchers have identified a lipid-protein combo that springs into action to gird the parasite's innards against heat shock. Understanding how malaria protects its cells against heat and other onslaughts could lead to new ways to fight tough-to-kill strains, researchers say. Source 9c.

Malaria Health & Special Psychology

This parasite will self-destruct: Researchers discover new weapon against drug-resistant malaria. A new method to combat malaria which sees the disease turn against itself could offer an effective treatment for the hundreds of millions of people infected globally each year, as the efficacy of current antimalarial drugs weakens. The research has identified an anti-malarial compound, ML901, which inhibits the malaria parasite but does not harm mammalian -- human or other mammals' -- cells. Source 9t.

Page 3 Malaria

Half of the world's population is at risk of contracting malaria.
Around the world 250 million people contract malaria every year, one million of them die.
Malaria kills more children in Africa than any other disease: One death occurs every 45 seconds.