All articles tagged with #malaria
Health officials in Antigua and Barbuda confirmed the death of a visiting traveler who contracted malaria after arriving from a malaria-endemic country; the death is considered imported with no evidence of local transmission. Authorities also reported a second imported malaria case in recent days and said public health teams have intensified surveillance and mosquito-control efforts to prevent any spread.
The World Health Organization has prequalified Coartem Baby, the first malaria treatment designed for infants as small as 2 kg, enabling public-sector use globally; developed by Novartis and MMV, it aims to reduce dosing errors and toxicity and has begun rollout in Ghana with plans to expand across sub-Saharan Africa.
Nature highlights five uplifting science stories from 2025–26: infants can now be treated for malaria with the weight-tailored drug artemether-lumefantrine, reducing infant deaths; six Leigh syndrome patients show mobility and breathing improvements after sildenafil (Viagra) treatment, though more trials are needed; engineered bacteria produce hydrogen from waste bread with a catalyst, cutting greenhouse-gas emissions; researchers extract hydrocarbon-rich biofuel from date-palm leaf fibers, offering a new energy source and waste-management benefit; and a US study finds HPV vaccination in boys and men linked to a 46% reduction in several cancers, underscoring the vaccine’s power for cancer prevention.
A Science Advances study reconstructing 74,000 years of sub-Saharan Africa climate finds prehistoric hunter-gatherers avoided malaria hotspots, especially Central West Africa, long before farming, suggesting malaria shaped where early humans lived and moved.
A Science Advances study shows malaria risk helped shape where Sub-Saharan Africans lived over 74,000 years, using mosquito distribution models and paleoclimate data to compute a 'malaria stability index' and revealing humans avoided high-malaria zones until around 14,000–13,000 years ago, a shift that aligns with the emergence of the sickle cell mutation and highlights disease as a key driver of ancient human geography and population structure.
WHO prequalified the first malaria treatment for newborns and young infants (artemether-lumefantrine) and added three rapid diagnostic tests that use pf-LDH to detect malaria where HRP2-based tests miss cases, helping close a long-standing treatment gap for about 30 million babies born each year and improving diagnosis in HRP2-deletion areas ahead of World Malaria Day 2026.
Despite the efficacy of two malaria vaccines (RTS,S and R21), deaths from malaria rose to 610,000 in 2024 from 575,000 in 2018 as cases increased, with vaccines failing to reach the most at-risk populations in Africa. Four-dose regimens, logistical delivery, and insufficient funding hinder rollout. The piece argues that with sustained funding, better coordination, and integrating vaccination with bed nets and antimalarial drugs, malaria deaths could be halved by 2035; elimination is feasible in some countries when malaria is treated as a national priority, but global investment (e.g., Gavi) and political will are urgently needed.
Malaria still claims about 610,000 lives each year; scientists have identified ARK1, an Aurora-related kinase in Plasmodium parasites, as essential for their unusual cell division and spindle formation. Inactivating ARK1 disrupts replication in both human and mosquito stages, making it a promising parasite-specific drug target. The work, published in Nature Communications, could help develop new antimalarial therapies that spare human cells.
The Nature Podcast explores why completing difficult tasks feels rewarding by detailing the brain’s dopamine-driven reward system (discussing Touponse et al.) and also examines how extreme weather events could raise malaria burden in Africa, linking climate fluctuations to challenges in malaria elimination.
A six-month trial in western Uganda found that babies carried in permethrin-treated wraps had about a two-thirds reduction in malaria cases (0.73 vs 2.14 per 100 babies per week) compared with untreated wraps; safety signals showed a slightly higher rash rate but no withdrawals, and researchers see potential for local production and broader testing before rollout.
Despite funding challenges, 2025 saw significant health victories including the early achievement of vaccinating 86 million girls against cervical cancer, the development of a new malaria treatment, the elimination of measles in several countries, the introduction of a promising HIV prevention drug, and advancements in tuberculosis treatment, all contributing to saving millions of lives worldwide.
A study reveals that malaria-carrying mosquitoes use human scent, particularly volatile organic compounds and skin acids, as GPS-like signals to locate their hosts, with scent being the primary cue over heat and vision, which can inform new mosquito control strategies.
A new drug called GanLum shows promise as an effective alternative to artemisinin-based treatments for malaria, especially in areas facing resistance issues, potentially extending the lifespan of current therapies and saving lives.
Scientists discovered that the spinning iron crystals inside malaria parasites are powered by a chemical reaction involving hydrogen peroxide, which may help the parasite manage toxic substances and could lead to new drug targets and nanotechnology applications.
The article warns that cuts in global aid, particularly to malaria programs, threaten to cause a resurgence of malaria in Africa, potentially adding nearly a million deaths by 2030, with environmental changes and drug resistance exacerbating the crisis.