Information and stories about malaria.

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Fighting Malaria with Genetically Modified Mosquitoes

genetically_modified_mosquitoes
Scientists have genetically modified mosquitoes in an effort to combat the spread of malaria globally. This technological advancement could substantially reduce the transmission of malaria which continues to have devasting impacts especially in developing countries.

Malaria Facts

According to the World Health Organization (WHO):

  • In 2015, there were 214 million malaria cases across the globe and approximately 438,000 deaths.
  • Sub-Saharan African countries, such as Chad, Sudan, and Angola, are the most at risk for contracting malaria and 90 percent of all malaria deaths occur in these areas.
  • Children are one of the most high-risk groups – 482,000 children under the age of five died from malaria in 2012 alone.

Researchers affiliated with Imperial College London will seek to genetically modify Anopheles gambiae, the mosquito species most responsible for malaria transmission. Using a technology called “gene drive,” the researchers will use a modified gene to “disrupt” the egg production in female mosquitoes, making them sexually unable to reproduce.

However, some mosquitoes will simply become carriers of the modified gene. The gene will then be passed down “at an accelerated rate to offspring,” slowly discontinuing the spread of malaria throughout the population over time.genetically_modified_mosquitoes

In order to test the gene drive, the team identified three genes that were important in female fertility. After diagnosing those genes, they altered them, resulting in an adjustment that “disrupted the activity.”

The genes were modified with the CRISPR/Cas9 endonuclease, a special type of tool that is able to cut designated parts of the genetic code. Having the enabled ability to cut DNA at an exact location, researchers could then mutate them, rendering female mosquitoes infertile.

The researchers are optimistic that the spread could not only drastically reduce the number of malaria cases, but, in three years’ time, local populations of malaria-carrying mosquitoes could be eliminated.

“If successful, this technology has the potential to substantially reduce the transmission of malaria,” said co-author Andrea Crisanti from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial.

The technique, although only targeting the Anopheles gambiae, could be tested on other mosquito species as well. The team did target other species while conducting their research; however, they decided to focus their efforts on Anopheles gambaie. Their range of testing proves that their “gene drive” is flexible and can be applied to a range of varied genes.

However, it will still be a substantial amount of time before the gene-altered mosquitoes will be ready. Professor Austin Burt from Imperial’s Department of Life Sciences told The Economic Times that he expects it will be “at least 10 more years before gene drive malaria mosquitoes could be a working intervention”.

Naturally, there is more work that needs to be accomplished before genetically modified mosquitoes can be introduced. Safety assessments and extensive reports must be generated before field trials can take place. However, the futuristic technology is encouraging and could dramatically alter the spread of malaria, as well as change the way scientists will attack other diseases.

– Alyson Atondo

Sources: WHO 1, WHO 2, IFLScience, India
Picture: Flickr1, Flickr2

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Combatting Malaria in Swaziland

Malaria_in_Swaziland
The small country of Swaziland might be the first in southern African to eliminate malaria.

According to the National Malaria Control Programme, malaria in Swaziland has declined by 99 percent between 2000 and 2014. With only 603 confirmed cases this year, Swaziland is poised to eliminate the disease by 2016.

The Malaria Elimination Group, an independent international advisory group, convened at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to highlight the country’s achievement.

Over 60 representatives from the Ministries of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO) and international donors associated with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation were also present.

Swaziland’s success can be attributed to multiple factors. The Malaria Elimination Group praised the country’s “strong surveillance and response system that has accounted for much of its malaria elimination success.” The group also recognized that strong political support from the country was a contributing factor as well.

The support of a 2008 grant from the Global Fund to Fight AIDs, Tuberculosis and Malaria assisted officials in the fight against malaria in Swaziland. With financial assistance from the fund, the country began an aggressive program to help fight malaria, strengthening case management as well as placing an emphasis on surveillance and response. Malaria_in_Swaziland

In order to ensure continued success, the Malaria Elimination Group says that “cross-border measures need to be strengthened.”

“For many eliminating countries, including Swaziland, close collaboration with neighboring countries is the key to success,” said Sir Richard Feachem, chair of the Malaria Elimination Group and director of the UCSF Global Health Group.

“If malaria knows no borders, then neither should our efforts to eliminate the disease. Swaziland’s surveillance and response [will be] unparalleled in the region; however, persistent imported malaria cases from endemic neighboring countries, particularly southern Mozambique, mean that a regional approach is essential for realizing our goal of a malaria-free southern Africa,” he added.

Swaziland is taking a leadership role in order to help other southern African countries eradicate malaria. Swaziland’s Minister of Health is also the Chair of the Elimination 8 (E8) which is “an eight-country effort that aims to eliminate malaria in four southern African countries by 2020.”

The E8 was recently awarded a $17.8 million grant from the Global Fund to strengthen malaria prevention as well as “improve regional surveillance and diagnostic capabilities.”

The grant underscored the overwhelming importance of totally eliminating the disease.

Said Hon. Minister Ndlela-Simelane, “This grant further strengthens our resolve to eliminate the disease. It will allow us to overcome our cross-border challenges, which we could not address in the scope of our national programs. Now, with this grant, we will have real-time date to address mobile and migrant populations that are highest risk of malaria.”

– Alyson Atondo

Sources: Medical Xpress, UCSF, Times Live
Photo: Flickr1, Flickr2

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A Nobel Prize in Medicine to Change the Fate of a Continent

nobel_prize_in_medicineFor the past 43 years, a lifesaving treatment for malaria, perfected by pharmacologist Tu YouYou, has received little recognition until winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday, Oct. 5. This long-known remedy has already demonstrated its efficacy through its use in southern Asia; however, the issue still remains as a staggering 90 percent of deaths caused by malaria occur in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 1967, Mao Zedong established a secret project dubbed “Project 523” in order to develop a cure for the widespread disease that disabled thousands of soldiers and civilians. Tu Youyou was selected to work on the cure after the group failed to create a synthetic medicine that proved effective.

Tu Youyou, then a student at the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, began her search in 1969 for any herbal cure to the issue. She collected 2,000 possible remedies before cutting her list to 380 and testing her compounds on mice.

It wasn’t until 1972 that Tu Youyou successfully produced chemically pure artemisinin, which was then assessed by a group of scientists; despite their efforts, the artemisinin weakened as the chemists’ trials continued. After discovering a method in “Emergency Prescriptions to Keep Up One’s Sleeve,” an ancient text on Chinese medicine, Tu Youyou procured another solution that worked 100 percent of the time on primates and rodents.

Tu Youyou tested the medicine herself and human trials began; artemisinin treatments became the fastest-acting antimalarial medicine. Despite this, it wasn’t until 2011 that Tu Youyou’s discovery earned a Lasker prize as its first award.

Tu Youyou’s find has held promise for the eradication of malaria since its discovery, being rewarded with a Nobel Prize in Medicine on Oct. 5, 2015. New drug-resisting malaria vectors, however, have drastically altered the reception of antimalarial therapy across the world. A prominent example is that of sub-Saharan Africa.

The most recent number calculated by the WHO records that in 2013 there were an estimated 198 million cases of malaria worldwide. Malaria is the cause of about 450,000 deaths per year and 90 percent of these occur in sub-Saharan Africa, with 77 percent being children at the age of 5 and younger.

Despite the drug-resisting vectors, mortality rates have fallen 47 percent globally since 2000, with a drop of 54 percent in the WHO’s African region. The WHO also suggests halting production and marketing of artemisinin-based monotherapies until variations of the treatment are developed.

Although no specificity is provided on when other alternatives will be available, the WHO launched an emergency response in April 2013 with the hopes of containing and managing any known outbreaks, continuing today as the WHO emphasizes that “urgent actions now will deliver significant savings in the long run.” It has since received aid from the leaders of the East Asia Summit and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

For now, we must enjoy “[the] gift for the world’s people from traditional Chinese medicine,” Youyou said after winning the Lasker prize in 2011.

– Emilio Rivera

Sources: CNN, Columbia, Vox, WHO                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
Photo: Flickr

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Malaria Infection Rate Drops 50 Percent Since 2000

Malaria Infection Rate Drops 50% Since 2000
In 2000, the UN released the Millennium Development Goal to “halt by 2015 and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria.” Reflecting back on the start of the twenty-first century, a recent study conducted at Oxford University has revealed an impressive decline in the rate of malaria infection across endemic Africa.

Using data gathered from approximately 30,000 malaria field surveys taken from sites across sub-Saharan Africa, researchers at Oxford University’s Department of Zoology investigated trends in infection by Plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly malarial parasite.

What they found was the overall rate of malaria infection in the affected regions of Africa has declined by 40 percent since 2000. This translates into roughly 700 million cases of malaria prevented over 15 years.

The study also compared several methods of intervention implemented, along with which of these methods had the most substantial effect. Of these solutions, research indicates that insecticide-treated bednets accounts for 68 percent of the total prevention.

Other tactics included Artemisin-based combination therapy, an efficacious anti-malarial drug, and indoor residual spraying, or the application of insecticide to the inside of homes.

Another report jointly released by UNICEF and WHO confirmed that malaria death rates have declined by 60 percent since 2000. Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO, praised these preventative disease measures when she said, “Global malaria control is one of the great public health success stories of the past 15 years.”

These studies prove the effectiveness simple solutions can have in saving thousands of lives globally, as access to nets and the spraying of dwellings alone have significantly contributed to the process of eliminating an ancient disease. They also provide important evidence on how to proceed with future control planning.

While these findings indicate a confident direction in the prevention and eradication of global disease, there is still enormous progress to be made. 438,000 people have died by malaria since the beginning of 2015, of which most were children living in the poorest regions of the world.

With half of the world’s population still at risk of contracting malaria, the journey is not quite over. In just 15 years, the percentage of children under the age of five sleeping beneath a bug net reached 68 percent from an initial 2 percent.

Imagine what could be done in the next 15 years with the effective implementation of preventative measures. With the solution already available, it would seem that the proper way to celebrate progress is to continue more heavily than ever before in efforts to end malaria.

– Kayla Lucia

Sources: Nature, University of Oxford, IFLScience
Photo: Wikimedia

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More Research for ‘Neglected Malaria’

Neglected_Malaria
The World Health Organization (WHO) and Bill Gates have called for more research for neglected malaria, or malaria caused by the Plasmodium vivax parasite, given the increasing infections in Western India.

In late July, WHO reported 18.9 million cases in 2012, almost 13 million of which were in South-East Asia, specifically in India. The parasite is spreading in the Indian cities of Ahmedabad, Bikaner and Mumbai.

“The malaria vaccine in humanist terms is the biggest need. But it gets virtually no funding. But if you are working on male baldness or other things you get an order of magnitude more research funding because of the voice in the marketplace than something like malaria,” remarked Bill Gates at the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Global Grand Challenges Summit in London, in 2014.

According to WHO South-East Asia region director, Poonam Khetrapal Singh said more needs to be done to fight vivax malaria, the cause for “a large proportion of global malaria burden.” The cost of the disease on a global scale ranges from $1.4 billion to $4 billion per year.

While vivax malaria kills less than relation P. falciparum, it’s harder to prevent and treat. P. vivax reoccurs throughout the infected person’s life causing incapacitating febrile attacks, severe anemia and respiratory distress.

As a result of these conditions, women have poor pregnancy outcomes, children experience learning impairment and it can sometimes be life-threatening. The reoccurrence and conditions that result are not only expensive long-term treatment but also makes the parasite all the more challenging from being eradicated.

The parasite can also be resistant to drug treatment and resistant to insecticides of mosquitoes that transmit it.

Despite all this, more research funding is provided for P. falciparum, according to a 2011 paper in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

According to the director of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Program, A. C. Shariwal, P. vivax is controlled through India’s Malaria Control Program and no changes will be made to it.

The need for funding is increasingly present and expensive. Research for P. vivax has to be done in collaboration with infected patients and primates, a type of research that moves slowly, is more expensive, logistically challenging, and less competitive than those that use more modern experimental research methods.

– Paula Acevedo

Sources: News Ghana, PLOS Journal, Science Development Net 1, Science Development Net 2
Photo: Flickr

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Fighting Malaria by 2030


An individual wakes up to a fever, chills, headache, sweats, fatigue, nausea, and vomiting: all of these symptoms appearing in cycles every 48 or 72 hours, depending on the exact parasite ailing the individual.

In more serious cases, add dry coughs, muscle or back pain, or even both, and an enlarged spleen. Some individuals may even suffer from impaired brain function, seizures, or loss of consciousness.

This is the reality of malaria.

In the year 2000, the infection rate of malaria was so severe that professionals estimated a total of 262 million individuals were infected with this illness. On top of that large number, it is estimated that malaria was responsible for approximately 839,000 deaths.

With numbers that high, it quickly became a global priority. Within the Millennial Development Goals (MDG), the UN targeted to have “halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.”

While the population at risk of malaria continued to grow, the rate of incidence decreased by 37 percent and the death rate by 60 percent since 2000.

To these statistics, the UN malaria progress report stated that, “it is evident that MDG Target 6C (to have halted and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria) has been met convincingly.”

With such a high level of success taking place, it is clear that prevention and treatment methods are working effectively. This being the case, the fight for continued reduction and eradication of the illness is necessary.

The UN News Centre has shared that, “some countries carry a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden. Fifteen countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, accounted for 80 percent of malaria cases and 78 percent of deaths globally in 2015.”

With these countries in mind, two new documents have been developed to further combat malaria by 2030: the Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016-2030 and the action and Investment to Defeat Malaria 2016-2030.

The targets and goals outlined in these two documents are to provide malaria prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, accelerate elimination efforts, and to transform “surveillance into a core intervention.”

With these plans mapped out, the UN has also estimated the total amount of funds necessary to accomplish this goal. This number comes out to $6.4 billion by 2020, $7.7 billion by 2025, and $8.7 USD billion by 2030.

While the numbers are high, the UN has declared that, “If these resources can be secured…malaria will become a thing of the past for many populations in the world.”

With all of the progress that has been made up to this point, 3.2 billion people within 97 different countries and territories are still at risk of the malaria infection.

If malaria could be completely eliminated by 2030, why stop now?

– Katherine Martin

Sources: UN, UNICEF, WebMD, WHO
Photo: The Oslo Times

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New Global Fund Grants Assist Ghana

Ghana
The president of Ghana announced at a ceremony earlier this month that the West African nation’s government has signed new grants with Global Fund, an international financing organization that invests around $4 billion a year to support programs fighting AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis (TB).

The seven new grants, totaling $248 million, come from many supporters, including the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the U.K. Department for International Effort, the European Union, Denmark, Korea, UNICEF, UNAIDS and WHO, among others.

The primary objective of the grants is to increase how many people receive protection and treatment for HIV, malaria and TB. Specifically, the key targets address certain aspects of prevention and treatment and aim to complete the goals by 2017.

Among the goals of the grants are for 140,448 people to be assured antiretroviral treatment to control HIV, as well as increase coverage for an additional 32,246 pregnant women.

The funds will also aim to expand services to protect key affected populations from HIV, including 65 percent of female sex workers, 88 percent of homosexual men, and 80 percent of inmates, in addition to providing annual testing services for 20 percent of the general population.

In terms of malaria, the funds will be used to secure treatment for 80 percent of children under five, as well as have mosquito nets in 70 percent of households.

For TB, the goal is to double case notification rates to 103 per 100,000 and make sure 100 percent of drug-resistant patients on second-line treatment are covered for treatment, up from 42 percent in 2013.

Additionally, Ghanaian officials want to use the funds to better integrate treatment for HIV and TB in community health clinics.

The government of Ghana also plans to use domestic funds to cover the expenses for antiretroviral drugs for 22,000 current patients and 11,000 new patients.

The nation was the first to sign a grant with Global Fund, doing so in 2002, seeing advances in overall health as a result.

Since 2010, there has been a 43 percent decrease in new HIV infections, and between 2009 and 2014, there was a 51 percent drop in new infections in children. The percentage of coverage dealing with preventing mother-to-child transmission is now at 81 percent, up from 32 percent.

Successes have also been seen in preventing and treating malaria and TB, as government officials and other organizations have distributed a combined 19 million mosquito nets, as well as detected and treated 76,000 new TB cases and having 88,000 people currently in antiretroviral therapy.

– Matt Wotus

Sources: AllAfrica, The Global Fund
Photo: Pixabay

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Mosquirix: New Malaria Vaccine Approved

Mosquirix: New Malaria Vaccine Approved
Thanks to the efforts of GlaxoSmithKline and the generous support of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s first malaria vaccine has been approved by regulators at the European Medicine Agency. The drug is called Mosquirix, and although it is likely not the end-all solution to the widespread disease, it is a stepping stone in the right direction.

GSK worked with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative to create the immunization, which is meant for use in tropical and subtropical areas where the illness is prevalent and largely uncontrolled. Called RTS,S in its experimental stages, Mosquirix is designed for children 6-17 months old whose immune systems are still developing.

Mosquirix works to prevent malaria by attacking Plasmodium falciparum parasites. These parasites multiply in the livers of people affected by malaria and head into the bloodstream where they cause more severe symptoms. This approach to preventing malaria is different than those of other vaccines, which seek to take down viruses and bacteria.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation contributed over $200 million to the drug’s research and development, and GSK is optimistic that it will be effective in reducing incidences of malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa where cases of malaria caused by the parasite are most common. Of the nearly 600,000 deaths related to malaria in 2013, 90 percent of these occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa; 83 percent in children under the age of five in the same region.

Studies show that Mosquirix reduces malaria cases by only a third and that its protection decreases in the long term. However, experts agree that some results are better than no results. In conjunction with other protective measures like insecticide-treated bed-nets, Mosquirix may become an important part of the malaria fight.

The main road bump for Mosquirix? Distribution. The vaccine may exist, but to the young children in Africa who need it, it may as well be a fantasy.

The question is whether the distribution of the vaccination to areas where it is needed is worth the time and the money. The World Health Organization is skeptical of the feasibility of Mosquirix’s implementation and has not yet issued a recommendation for its use. Officials at the WHO are worried that financing for the vaccine may “draw away from scaling up bed nets, effective drugs and rapid diagnostic tests for malaria.”

There is a reason that most vaccines are not made against parasites – unlike bacteria or a virus, a parasite has a complicated life cycle that transports it around the body. Parasites like those that cause malaria can remain living in the body for years.

However, the news that it is possible for a malaria vaccine to be developed and approved is promising. Whether or not Mosquirix achieves outstanding success, discussion surrounding it is undoubtedly paving the way for future malaria-related drug research.

– Katie Pickle

Sources: NBC News, Tech Times
Photo: Press Herald

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Fight Against Malaria in Myanmar

Myanmar
In the global fight against Malaria, the drug, artemisinin, has been a common theme. However, with the ongoing rise of resistance to the drug, new approaches are needed. As the resistance spreads, it threatens to enter Myanmar by India, which then puts the entire African continent at risk.

Myanmar has a longstanding history of rigid ethnic division and an overall lack of cooperation in both domestic and international politics. However, the imminent danger posed by the potential for the spread of artemisinin-resistant Malaria could be bringing about a new era of cooperation. Since Malaria is a problem that everyone in the country is facing, the structure encouraged by conflict and the history of segregation is being weakened by necessity. People are beginning to realize that the risks posed by the resistance are so imminent and dramatic that there is no time to waste in upholding such strict separations.

With an election coming up in November, these discussions held between the opposing political parties are important. As the public sees that the government as a whole is making serious efforts to combat Malaria, there will likely be less distrust and suspicion, which could encourage participation in the elections. It is widely understood by both sides that the fight against malaria should not and cannot be subject to the ups and downs of political turmoil in the country.

Additionally, because most deaths from malaria are occurring in marginalized ethnic communities that have long battled the government, which has affected the access to and quality of medical care in those areas, the new view on and cooperation in the fight against Malaria will have to address the issue in order to reach the goal of eliminating Malaria by 2025. Myanmar has made an effort to prove to the U.S. that they are taking Malaria seriously so as to encourage foreign aid by inviting members of various ethnic groups and central government departments to convene in a meeting in Washington D.C. this past week, the timid first step towards collaboration to eradicate Malaria in Myanmar and to prevent the spread of the artemisinin-resistance to larger, vulnerable populations.

– Emma Dowd

Sources: Bangkok Post 1, Bangkok Post 2
Photo: Bangkok Post

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Potential to Cure Parkinson’s Disease Found in Existing Drug

Potential to Cure Parkinson’s Disease Found in Existing Drug

In a recent report, researchers found that the current drugs Chloroquine and Amodiaquine, two common anti-malaria drugs, could also provide treatment for Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s disease itself is a disease caused by a loss of cells in a part of the brain called the subtantia nigra. This loss of cells causes the reduction of the neurotransmitter called dopamine, or the chemical in the brain that regulates movement and mood.

One of the study’s authors, Dr. Yoon Ho Sup, stated, “Our discovery brings hope for the millions of people suffering from Parkinson’s disease, as the drugs that we have found to have worked in the laboratory tests have already been used to treat malaria in patients for decades.”

Dr. Sup continued, “Our research also shows that existing drugs can be repurposed to treat other diseases and once several potential drugs are found, we can redesign them to be more effective in combating their targeted diseases while reducing the side effects.”

This monumental breakthrough could lead to an inexpensive alternative treatment to many individuals who suffer from Parkinson’s on a daily basis. Creating the new treatment would be beneficial not only from a financial standpoint but also because many of the current treatments involve a varied concoction of many drugs and surgery.

Another of the study’s authors, Professor Kwang-Soo Kim stated, “…[existing] pharmacological and surgical treatments address the patient’s symptoms, such as to improve mobility functions in the early stages of the disease, but the treatments cannot slow down or stop the disease process.”

With the current research and backing of scientific evidence, these drugs are seen to be a potential drug target to treat Parkinson’s itself.

The researchers hope that the drugs can be further modified to continue to better treat Parkinson’s and hopefully slow and stop the process.

– Alysha Biemolt

Sources: Spring, WHO, PNAS
Photo: Medical Press