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In 2019, there were an estimated 229 million cases of malaria and 409,000 deaths, mostly infants, worldwide. (iStock)
- Researchers have infected mosquitoes with the human malaria parasite.
- It can take up to 15 years before a new drug is developed to fight malaria.
- Researchers say this paves the way for malaria eradication.
Scientists at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) have infected mosquitoes with malaria, discovering new compounds that could be a breakthrough in treating the disease.
Scientists at the Wits Research Institute for Malaria (WRIM), in partnership with the University of Pretoria and colleagues in the US, Spain, and Switzerland, have identified major new antiplasmodial compounds that could be used for mass drug delivery and control of vectors to eliminate malaria.
The study findings were published in the journal Nature Communications this week.
Professor Lizette Koekemoer, co-director of WRIM and the Chair of Medical Entomology and SARChI Control of the National Research Foundation and co-author of the research paper, said the team established a malaria mosquito infection center at the Faculty of Health Sciences from Wits University, where mosquito transmission blocking experiments were carried out.
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“The WRIM infection center is the only facility in South Africa and the southern African region that can artificially infect mosquitoes with the human malaria parasite. The infection center provided the high level of expertise needed to infect mosquitoes. mosquitoes with the human malaria parasite and allowed this unique study to be done, “he said.
Ten days after infection, the guts of the mosquitoes were removed and the number of malaria parasites was counted and compared with mosquitoes that received only one meal of infected blood without treatment. The researchers found that the ability to transmit the disease was decreased in mosquitoes infected with the parasite.
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Koekemoer said: “Normally the way a mosquito can transmit malaria is that it has to feed on someone who has [the] malaria parasite. It could be someone who is a carrier of the malaria parasite, but is not sick. The female mosquito will feed on someone with the malaria parasite and then when that mosquito bites another person 12 to 14 days later, it can transmit the disease. “
Their research now meant that if someone with the malaria parasite were given a drug containing the compound, the mosquito would not be able to transmit the disease to other people.
“What will happen is that now you will have to test the community to see if they have malaria parasites in their bloodstream. You can do this very quickly with a blood test. If you later see that the person is a carrier of the malaria parasite So give them a prophylactic drug or a treatment drug and the parasite will be eliminated from the human. The mosquitoes will still feed on that person, but they simply will not be able to transmit the disease, “Koekemoer said.
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She said that while it was still early, the research paved the way for malaria eradication.
“It is very early, but it is very good that we have the experience here now in this country for future studies. The compound that has been identified in this laboratory phase will go further. We need to make sure that they are safe for humans.
“Normally, a drug, no matter what disease, can take up to 15 years to develop. Unfortunately, we are looking at a period of five to 10 years. But I think it is good not to rush things,” he said. .
In 2019, there were an estimated 229 million malaria cases and 409,000 deaths, mostly infants, worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.
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On why it was so difficult to fight malaria, Koekemoer said: “It is a multifactorial disease because you need the human being and then the mosquito and the parasite. In most situations it is difficult to control malaria because the area where it occurs is very rural and sending the controls to the people is a great challenge.
“In Africa, we know that political stability is important. You need money. South Africa has a great anti-malaria program, but it costs money and other African countries don’t have the resources to do it. They depend on donor funding that comes with strings attached. “.
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