Global Malaria News

New research suggests that a better understanding of human behavior at night -- when malaria mosquitoes are biting -- could be key to preventing lingering cases.

A new study describes the way mosquito immune systems fight malaria parasites using various waves of resistance. The study could lay the groundwork for future research to combat the transmission of malaria, which sickens millions of people across the globe every year.

Most of the 3,000+ mosquito species are opportunistic, but researchers are most interested in the mosquitoes that scientists call 'disease vectors' -- carriers of diseases that plague humans -- some of which have evolved to bite humans almost exclusively. One expert is trying to understand how the brain and genome of these mosquitoes have evolved to make them specialize in humans -- including how they can distinguish us from other mammals so effectively.

Researchers have found a new toxin that selectively targets mosquitoes. This can lead to innovative and environmentally friendly approaches to reduce malaria.

Researchers have identified more than 100 'hijacked' human genes that malaria parasites commandeer to take up residence inside their victim's liver during the silent early stages of infection, before symptoms appear. Before their work only a few such genes were known. The findings could lead to new ways to stop malaria parasites before people get sick and help keep the disease from spreading, via treatments that are less likely to promote resistance.

New high-resolution maps show the global burden of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax, the two parasites that cause the majority of malaria cases worldwide.

Researchers have discovered that the Plasmodium parasites responsible for malaria rely on a human liver cell protein for their development into a form capable of infecting red blood cells and causing disease. The study suggests that targeting this human protein, known as CXCR4, could be a way to block the parasite's life cycle and prevent the development of malaria.

Viruses, spread through mosquito bites, cause human illnesses such as dengue fever, Zika and yellow fever. A new control technique harnesses a naturally occurring bacterium called Wolbachia that blocks replication of viruses and breaks the cycle of mosquito-borne disease, according to an international team of researchers.

A public health, police, and military partnership to reduce the mosquito population in Sri Lanka resulted in a more than 50% reduction in dengue, as well as cost savings, finds a new study.

The solution to the problem of increasing drug resistance among malaria-causing parasites could come from the North, according to a new study. A team successfully synthesized molecules discovered in a microscopic fungus from Nunavut and demonstrated their in vitro efficacy against the parasite responsible for malaria.

Effective methods of controlling mosquito populations are needed to help lower the worldwide burden of mosquito-borne diseases including Zika, chikungunya, and dengue. Now, researchers have described a new statistical framework that can be used to assess mosquito control programs over broad time and space scales.

Researchers describe the first trial outside the laboratory of a transgenic approach to combating malaria. The study shows that a naturally occurring fungus engineered to deliver a toxin to mosquitoes safely reduced mosquito populations by more than 99% in a screen-enclosed, simulated village setting in Burkina Faso, West Africa.

Feeding mosquitoes sugar makes them less attracted to humans, a response that is regulated by the protein vitellogenin, according to a new study.

A study which analyzed 15 years of mosquito surveillance data shows Iowa's western counties experience a higher abundance of the species thought to most commonly carry West Nile virus. Culex tarsalis, the mosquito species most often implicated in West Nile transmission, usually becomes most active in early September. The data support similar findings in Nebraska and South Dakota.

In people with chronic malaria, certain metabolic systems in the blood change to support a long-term host-parasite relationship, a finding that is key to eventually developing better detection, treatment and eradication of the disease, according to new research.

Researchers found significant delays in reporting human cases of West Nile virus, hampering real-time forecasting of the potentially deadly mosquito-borne disease.

Researchers have found that the dengue fever mosquito common to north and central Queensland poses the greatest danger of spreading the Zika virus in Australia. The researchers showed that not only was the dengue mosquito effective at transmitting Zika, the virus was also in the mosquitoes' reproductive organs. This finding suggests that Zika could persist in mosquito populations by females passing it to their offspring.

The loss of memory and cognitive function known to afflict survivors of septic shock is the result of a sugar that is released into the blood stream and enters the brain during the life-threatening condition.

A new analysis identifies African regions where ivermectin administration to livestock would have the greatest impact on malaria transmission. The results point to West Africa, below the Sahel, where malaria prevalence is very high.

Public health officials could soon be able to detect viruses in mosquitoes in the wild much more quickly and easily -- thanks to the insect equivalent of a urine test. A new study shows that two kinds of commonly used mosquito traps can be readily modified to collect mosquito excreta, or liquid waste droplets, to be tested for signs of viruses.