Malaria News |
Insecticide resistance threatens malaria control programmes, WHO says 
Concerned by the emerging threat that resistance to insecticides poses to programmes to control malaria vectors, the World Health Organization this week launched a new global plan for insecticide resistance management.
WHO says, "Vector control is a central, critical component of all malaria control strategies." Control relies primarily on two interventions: long lasting insecticidal nets and indoor residual spraying. Use of both has increased significantly over the past decade as part of a drive towards universal coverage of all populations at risk, "saving hundreds of thousands of lives."
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Malaria resurges when complacency over control sets in or funding collapses, study concludes
Progress in eradicating malaria is jeopardised if programmes to combat the disease are cut, a study has concluded.
The study, published in the Malaria Journal (2012;11:122, doi:10.1186/1475-2875-11-122), looked at 75 documented cases of malaria resurgence worldwide since the 1930s. It found that in 90% of the cases resurgence was linked, in part, to weakening of malaria control programmes.
The researchers-from the Clinton Health Access Initiative; the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute; the independent Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy, which is based in Washington, DC, and New Delhi; and the Global Health Group at the University of California, San Francisco-reviewed the literature to find all documented instances of malaria resurgence.
Their study looked at historical events, but its findings are relevant now after the cancellation last November of the latest funding round of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the biggest source of funding for malaria control worldwide (BMJ 2011;343:d7755, doi:10.1136/bmj.d7755).
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Characterizing the spatial and temporal variation of malaria incidence in Bangladesh 
Malaria remains a significant health problem in Bangladesh affecting 13 of 64 districts. The
risk of malaria is variable across the endemic areas and throughout the year. A better
understanding of the spatial and temporal patterns in malaria risk and the determinants
driving the variation are crucial for the appropriate targeting of interventions under the
National Malaria Control and Prevention Programme.
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Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests 
Global efforts to control malaria are more complex than those for other infectious diseases, in part because of vector transmission, the complex clinical presentation of Plasmodium infections, >1 Plasmodium species causing infection, geographic distribution of vectors and infection, and drug resistance. The World Health Organization approach to global malaria control focuses on 2 components: vector control and diagnosis and treatment of clinical malaria. Although microscopy performed on peripheral blood smears remains the most widely used diagnostic test and the standard against which other tests are measured, rapid expansion of diagnostic testing worldwide will require use of other diagnostic approaches. This review will focus on the malaria rapid diagnostic test (MRDT) for detecting malaria parasitemia, both in terms of performance characteristics of MRDTs and how they are used under field conditions. The emphasis will be on the performance and use of MRDTs in regions of endemicity, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, where most malaria-related deaths occur.
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Can New Chemistry Make a Malaria Drug Plentiful and Cheap? 
German chemist Peter Seeberger, head of a team of 70 researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, has found a way to produce artemisinin, the world's most important antimalaria medication, much more cheaply and easily than current methods allow. In January, Seeberger published a paper outlining how a technique called flow chemistry might make a key step in the drug's production chain more efficient. If the promise comes true, it could be a boon for the global fight against malaria, because the current price, between $0.80 and $1.20 per treatment course, is still a major factor hampering access to artemisinin drugs. Some scientists are impressed. But Seeberger's method has yet to prove its mettle.
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Characterizing the spatial and temporal variation of
malaria incidence in Bangladesh, 2007 
Malaria remains a significant health problem in Bangladesh affecting 13 of 64 districts. Therisk of malaria is variable across the endemic areas and throughout the year. A betterunderstanding of the spatial and temporal patterns in malaria risk and the determinantsdriving the variation are crucial for the appropriate targeting of interventions under theNational Malaria Control and Prevention Programme.
Numbers of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax malaria cases reported by monthin 2007, across the 70 endemic thanas (sub-districts) in Bangladesh, were assembled fromhealth centre surveillance reports.
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Post-treatment haemolysis in severe imported
malaria after intravenous artesunate: case report of
three patients with hyperparasitaemia
Parenteral artesunate has been shown to be a superior treatment option compared toparenteral quinine in adults and children with severe malaria. Little evidence, however, isavailable on long-term safety. Recently, cases of late-onset haemolysis after parenteraltreatment with artesunate have been reported in European travellers with importedPlasmodium falciparum malaria. Therefore, an extended follow-up of adult patients treatedfor severe imported malaria was started in August 2011 at the University Medical CenterHamburg-Eppendorf.Until January 2012, three patients with hyperparasitaemia (range: 14-21%) were included foranalysis. In all three patients, delayed haemolysis was detected in the second week after thefirst dose of intravenous artesunate.
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Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) polymorphism
associated with symptomatic malaria: a cohort study
In areas mesoendemic for malaria transmission, symptomatic individuals play a significantrole as reservoirs for malaria infection. Understanding the pathogenesis of symptomaticmalaria is important in devising tools for augmenting malaria control. In this study, the effectof TLR9 polymorphisms on susceptibility to symptomatic malaria was investigated amongGhanaian children.
Four hundred and twenty nine (429) healthy Ghanaian children, aged three to eleven years(3-11 years), were enrolled into a cohort study and actively followed up for symptomaticmalaria for one year.
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