Malaria is one of the leading causes of illness and death around the world. The disease is primarily caused by the bite of mosquitoes carrying a parasite. In 2019, around 229 million malaria cases were reported with an estimated number of 409,000 deaths. Most of the reported cases occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. Children younger than five years and pregnant women are most prone to malaria.
To prevent malaria, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends spraying insecticides indoors and using bed nets treated with long-lasting insecticide.
These interventions have one big flaw, however. They focus on minimising malaria infections indoors. Infections can still occur outdoors. And in some African countries resistance to insecticides – especially pyrethroids – is emerging. So new methods to control mosquitoes are needed urgently.
Malaria is one of the leading causes of illness and death around the world. The disease is primarily caused by the bite of mosquitoes carrying a parasite. In 2019, around 229 million malaria cases were reported with an estimated number of 409,000 deaths. Most of the reported cases occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. Children younger than five years and pregnant women are most prone to malaria.
To prevent malaria, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends spraying insecticides indoors and using bed nets treated with long-lasting insecticide.
These interventions have one big flaw, however. They focus on minimising malaria infections indoors. Infections can still occur outdoors. And in some African countries resistance to insecticides – especially pyrethroids – is emerging. So new methods to control mosquitoes are needed urgently.
Malaria control needs longer lasting repellents We re a step closer to finding one modernghana.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from modernghana.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Citizen reporter Curing malaria means also having to stop the transmission cycle, which the new potent chemical compounds will be able to do. Residents in Burkina Faso have struggled to contain malaria. Picture for illustration: iStock
The groundbreaking discovery was published in the
Nature Communications journal on Monday.
It involved identifying compounds able to kill several stages of the deadly human malaria parasite,
Plasmodium falciparum, which does occur in South Africa, explained UP’s Institute for Sustainable Malaria Control research chair, Professor Lyn-Marie Birkholtz.
The malaria-causing parasite is able to take on multiple forms. Some cause disease, and others allow the parasite to be transmitted back into mosquitos, to continue the deadly life cycle.