malaria research

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WHO's Vaccine Move Called 'Glimmer of Hope' for Africa

In 'historic moment,' UN endorses malaria vaccine for children

(Newser) - The world’s first malaria vaccine should be given to children across Africa, the World Health Organization recommended Wednesday, a move that officials hope will spur stalled efforts to curb the spread of the parasitic disease. From the AP :
  • "A historic moment." WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called
...

China Officially Wipes Out Malaria
China Officially
Wipes Out
Malaria

China Officially Wipes Out Malaria

WHO declares the eradication, after a national campaign lasting decades

(Newser) - A long national effort to eradicate malaria in China has paid off: The World Health Organization decreed Wednesday that the country is free of the disease. The success "was hard-earned and came only after decades of targeted and sustained action," said the agency's director general, the New ...

After Decades of Work, a Malaria Vaccine Is Here

3 countries have been chosen for testing

(Newser) - Three African countries have been chosen to test the world's first malaria vaccine, the World Health Organization announced Monday. Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi will begin piloting the injectable vaccine next year with young children. The vaccine, which has partial effectiveness, has the potential to save tens of thousands of...

US Malaria Experiments in 1940s Left Troops 'Ruined'

'The Malaria Project' looks at effort to find drug

(Newser) - The goal was just, the execution anything but: In the 1940s, the US government pulled together an operation designed to find a cure for malaria, which infected some 500,000 American troops during WWII. How they went about doing so is revealed in Karen Masterson's new book, The Malaria ...

Toddlers' Blood Could Hold Key to Beating Malaria

New vaccine traps disease inside blood cells

(Newser) - Researchers think they've found a promising new potential weapon in the fight against malaria in a fairly unlikely place: the blood of toddlers. In a paper published in Science today, researchers detail how they examined the blood of more than 750 children in Tanzania. They found that about 6%...

Climate Change Helps Malaria Spread

 Malaria Reaching 
 Higher Altitudes 
STUDY SAYS

Malaria Reaching Higher Altitudes

Rising temperatures open up new heights to parasite

(Newser) - Efforts to eradicate malaria are going to be hit hard by rising temperatures that open up new altitudes to the mosquitoes that carry the disease, researchers warn. Both mosquitoes and the malaria parasite struggle in chillier temperatures, and a new study has found that the disease climbs to higher elevations...

Malaria Vaccine Rocks in Small Study

Injections gave some volunteers 100% protection

(Newser) - A new malaria vaccine has raised eyebrows in early testing and revived the dream of curbing a disease that killed more than a million people in 2010—most of them children, NBC News reports. Only 57 volunteers were involved in the US test, says Science Daily , but all who received...

New Malaria Strains Beat Best Drug

Scientists hope DNA fingerprinting can halt spread

(Newser) - Scientists are scrambling to stay a step ahead of a fast-evolving strain of malaria-causing parasite that has developed resistance to artemisinin, the most important drug used to fight the disease. Researchers examining the DNA of malaria parasites from around the world found three separate artemisinin-resistant strains in western Cambodia that...

Malaria Kills Twice as Many as We Thought: Study

Health officials have been undercounting adult victims, researchers argue

(Newser) - Health officials have been vastly underestimating the number of people who die of malaria every year, because they've largely ignored its adult victims, according to a new report published in the Lancet . The actual death toll for 2010, according to its estimate, was 1.24 million, nearly twice the...

Smelly Socks Could Stop Malaria

Scent lures infected mosquitoes into traps

(Newser) - Your smelly clothes hamper could soon save lives. Researchers in Tanzania are testing dirty socks as a way to prevent malaria, reports the Washington Post . The scent of the socks lure mosquitoes infected with the disease into traps, where they're poisoned and die. If it works, it'll provide...

Breakthrough Promises Vastly Better Bug Repellents

New compound 'thousands time more effective than DEET'

(Newser) - Life may soon get a lot tougher for mosquitos and other bugs that like to dine on human blood. Researchers have discovered a compound that completely jams an insect's sense of smell, making it much harder for mosquitos to find their prey, Discover reports. Early tests suggest that the...

Fungus Cures Mosquitoes of Malaria

May prove durable weapon against the spread of the disease

(Newser) - Scientists are trying a new approach to stop the spread of malaria: Rather than attempt to kill the mosquitoes outright, they're using a genetically-altered fungus to kill the parasite in the mosquitoes who spread it, NPR reports. "The trick we did was to engineer the fungus so that it...

Mutating Malaria Mosquito Breeds Panic

Deadly insect splitting into two species

(Newser) - Scientists battling the deadliest creature on Earth have been alarmed to discover that it is rapidly evolving into two distinct species. The Anopheles gambiae mosquito, responsible for some million deaths from malaria every year, has split into two genetically different strains, the Independent reports. Scientists warn that this will complicate...

Genetically Modified Mosquito May End Malaria

Disease-resistant insect could be new tool

(Newser) - Researchers from the University of Arizona have developed a genetically modified mosquito that is immune to the malaria parasite and thus unable to transmit the illness to people. The new mosquito could eventually help control or even eliminate the disease. Malaria infects more than 250 million yearly, resulting in a...

Glaxo Offers Free Access to Malaria Research

Company makes vast database public to help science find a cure

(Newser) - GlaxoSmithKline has opened up its database of compounds with the potential to cure malaria to any scientists who wants to take up the challenge. The move—unheard of in the pharmaceutical industry—comes after company scientists spent a year screening all 2 million compounds in the company's library for those...

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