ASTMH 2021 Annual Meeting (virtual): Day 4
Tags:
MESA Correspondents bring you cutting-edge coverage from the virtual ASTMH 2021 Annual Meeting
Day 4: Saturday, 20th November 2021
S #85: Malarial Immune Response from Numerous Perspectives
Weblogs
Homologous P. vivax malarial recurrences are not necessarily relapses
It was pointed out a decade ago that non-reinfection recurrences of Plasmodium vivax malaria caused by parasites that are closely related to those from an earlier time point are highly suggestive of a merozoite origin [1,2].
This would make them recrudescences (in an unknown proportion of cases), not relapses. In other words, hypnozoites [3] have nothing to do with such a recurrence.
Some recurrences that take place after 28 days post infection are also recrudescences (not relapses), as has recently been explained [2].
REFERENCES
Last week at MalariaWorld: ASTMH reports, webinar, podcast, interview, and more...
Tags:
SUBSCRIBE TO THE MALARIAWORLD NEWSLETTER
Malaria & COVID-19: the backside of the coin
Could it really be that malaria infections protect against COVID-19 as was presented during the ASTMH conference this week? Would there actually be a positive effect of having survived malaria? It makes me think of that one time when malaria almost killed me. I have always been very careful not to get bitten by mosquitoes. But this one time it went very wrong. It was July 1994 when I traveled to Tanzania. Once I got to Zanzibar I felt really sick. I had taken chloroquine as prophylaxis because I refused to take the disputed Lariam (mefloquine). I had actually witnessed somebody going bananas after taking a curative dose of mefloquine, so no thank you. Instantly I realised that I most likely was down with malaria and decided to take Fansidar (sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine) as a cure. Not wise, I realised that too late. By the time I made it to the small hospital in Stone Town, I passed out. The world turned black. Thanks to the great doctor and nurse who got me on a quinine drip, antibiotics and more, I was discharged after a few days. It took me six months to recover and get my strength back. How lucky had I been. But it made me wonder how a vulnerable baby or young child could possibly survive such a devastating malaria attack.
Now you know how I became interested in devoting my life to working on malaria. Back to COVID-19. I will not try my luck this time, but I certainly hope that malaria exposure is linked to a lower risk of COVID-19 infection. Interested to read more about the presentations from ASTMH this week? Then you should read the MESA ASTMH reports. Day 1, 2 and 3 are ready, please see below.
Stay healthy, stay safe and enjoy MalariaWorld!
Inga
Founder & Senior Editor MalariaWorld
Director Dutch Malaria Foundation
Podcast: DNA sequencing unveils workings of malaria recurrence in low parasitemia infections
Podcast #6 | 26 November 2021: New scientific insights into malaria recurrence in low parasitemia infections is due to relapse rather than infection, determined by DNA sequencing.
ASTMH 2021 Annual Meeting (virtual): Day 3
Tags:
MESA Correspondents bring you cutting-edge coverage from the virtual ASTMH 2021 Annual Meeting
Day 3: Friday, 19th November 2021
Symposium #52: Trials of Malaria Vaccines in Pregnant Women
MESA Webinar 6 - Malaria in the Shadows: Putting the Focus on the Challenges of P. vivax
Tags:
MESA is thrilled to welcome you to the sixth session of the MESA Webinars: Science for Malaria Impact, a platform that brings together the malaria community of innovators and showcases the work of malaria-endemic researchers!
ASTMH 2021 Annual Meeting (virtual): Day 2
Tags:
MESA Correspondents bring you cutting-edge coverage from the virtual ASTMH 2021 Annual Meeting
Day 2: Thursday, 18th November 2021
Symposium #12: Entomological Data to Guide Strategic Deployment of New Types of Insecticide Treated Nets for Control of Pyrethroid Resistant Malaria Vectors
ASTMH 2021 Annual Meeting (virtual): Day 1
Tags:
MESA Correspondents bring you cutting-edge coverage from the virtual ASTMH 2021 Annual Meeting
Day 1: Wednesday, 17th November 2021
The 70th Annual ASTMH virtual meeting started with the Young Investigator Award Sessions. These awards are given for work presented by young investigators to recognise their work and to encourage young scientists to pursue careers in tropical disease research.
Artemisia afra irreversibly cures tuberculosis
Early this year we published the results of 15 case studies. In 2020 15 patients infected by tuberculosis had been cured after 3 weeks of administration of Artemisia afra infusions, alone or in combination with the WHO prescribed drugs.
Daddy B, Lutgen P, Gisenya P. Breakthrough against tuberculosis: high efficacy of Artemisia afra infusions. Pharm Pharmacol Int J. 2021;9(2):58‒62.
Meanwhile in several countries of the Great Lakes, the tuberculosis of some 30 additional patients has been cured, mostly by Artemisia afra alone.
End Malaria Faster: U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative Strategy 2021–2026
Tags:
On October 6, 2021, the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative is launching its next strategy for 2021 – 2026, titled “End Malaria Faster”. PMI’s strategy aims to greatly reduce malaria deaths and cases in countries that account for 80 percent of the world’s malaria burden — contributing to the global goals of saving more than 4 million lives and averting over 1 billion cases by 2025.
Over the next five years, PMI aims to save lives, reduce health inequities, and improve disease surveillance and global health security. With partners, PMI will maximize program efficiency by addressing five focus areas; reach the unreached, strengthen community health systems, keep malaria services resilient, invest locally, and innovate and lead.
To download the report see the pdf attached.
Virtual MESA Symposium at the ASTMH Annual Meeting: Towards a Next-Generation Malaria Vaccine Portfolio (Innovations in Malaria Vaccine Development)
Tags:
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that since the year 2000, 1.5 billion malaria cases and 7.6 million deaths have been averted thanks to the malaria control and elimination efforts.
Podcast: Large cages bridge the divide between testing in the lab and in the wild
Podcast #5 | 12 November 2021: Large cage experiments that emulate the real-world environment demonstrate viability of gene drive technology.
Meet the MESA Correspondents that will cover the 2021 ASTMH Annual Meeting
The MESA Correspondent volunteers report on the latest in malaria research from conferences around the world. The synopses are shared online, enabling people who could not attend the meeting or missed a particular symposia to read about the latest advances. The MESA Correspondents Program is a collaboration between MESA and the conference organizers.
Global technical strategy for malaria 2016-2030, 2021 update 19 July 2021
The Global technical strategy for malaria 2016–2030 was adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2015. It provides a comprehensive framework to guide countries in their efforts to accelerate progress towards malaria elimination. The strategy sets the target of reducing global malaria incidence and mortality rates by at least 90% by 2030.
Do vaccines increase Malaria and Covid ?
Tags:
The efficacy of vaccines is a complex issue and sometimes long range effects may be disastrous.
The situation is dramatic for the RTS,S vaccine which protects only against sporozoites but does not induce clinical immunity against blood-stage parasites. The vaccine showed evidence of 35,9% efficacy in the first year after vaccination, but efficacy fell to 2.5% in the fourth year. The cohort with a high exposure index even showed a negative efficacy during the fifth year, i.e. an higher level of infection
Watch the Masterclass 'Infected But Not Sick'
A MasterClass with Profs. Chris Drakeley & Teun Bousema
Watch the MESA webinar 5 - Below the Target: Innovative Ways to Accelerate Increase in IPTp Coverage
Watch below the recorded webinar ' Below the Target: Innovative Ways to Accelerate Increase in IPTp Coverage' with Ogonna Nwankwo, public health physician at the University of Calabar (Nigeria), and Jenipher Mukolwe Angaha, Kenya Registered Community Health Nurse at Jhpiego. Martin Meremikwu, tenured Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at the College of Medical Sciences University of Calabar in Cross River State (Nigeria) moderated the session.
Podcast: New apicoplast findings change how scientists perceive parasite survival
Podcast #4 | 29 October 2021: New research into the role and function of the apicoplast, a plant-like structure within the malaria parasite, has changed scientists’ perceptions of how the parasite survives.
Watch the recording of the Masterclass 'Costs & Coverage of [Malaria] Control'
A MasterClass with Profs. H. Koenker, Yukich & M. Erskine
Time for action: about malaria, poverty and travel
As a community of malaria professionals, we are committed to ridding the world of a disease that causes suffering in many low and middle income countries (LMIC). At the same time, our collective air travel contributes to climate change that has major health consequences and disproportionally impacts LMICs and vulnerable groups. Here, we propose the ‘Thoughtful Travel’ approach to improve the sustainability of our work.
Podcast: Malaria parasites mutate and have ability to evade RDTs, rapid diagnostic tests
Podcast #3 | 15 October 2021: Results from a large study in Ethiopia showed that P. falciparum malaria parasites have mutated and have the worrisome ability to avoid being detected by the widely used RDTs.
Watch the recording of the Masterclass 'Sustaining the [Malaria] Gains'
A Masterclass with with Profs. Thomas Churcher & Ellie Sherrard Smith
P. vivax Malaria Recurrence and Human Nature
People who did not believe the non-reinfection, non-circulating merozoite-related P. vivax malarial recurrence concept [explained here: https://doi.org/10.2147/TCRM.S269336] are now quietly starting to echo it.
However, it is interesting to note that this has directly or indirectly been done by the authors of some papers while studiously avoiding inclusion of any reference to where the idea (prediction) came from in the first place, thereby revealing their true colours.
WHO - Mekong Malaria Elimination: epidemiology summary, volume 14, April–June 2021
Tags:
From April to June 2021, countries in the Greater Mekong subregion (GMS) reported 12 454 malaria cases.
Cambodia
Cambodia reported 596 cases, a 74% decrease compared to the same time period in 2020. P. falciparum + mixed cases and P. vivax constituted 10% and 90% of cases, respectively.
China (Yunnan Province)
Yunnan reported 47 P. vivax cases and 0 P. falciparum + mixed cases. Among those, no indigenous cases were reported.
NEWS: WHO recommends groundbreaking malaria vaccine for children at risk
Tags:
Historic RTS,S/AS01 recommendation can reinvigorate the fight against malaria
6 October 2021 News release Geneva
The World Health Organization (WHO) is recommending widespread use of the RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S) malaria vaccine among children in sub-Saharan Africa and in other regions with moderate to high P. falciparum malaria transmission. The recommendation is based on results from an ongoing pilot programme in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi that has reached more than 800 000 children since 2019.
Pages
