Each year, malaria results in more than a million deaths. Controlling this disease involves understanding its transmission, and understanding its transmission means understanding its basic reproductive number, R0. For all infectious disease, R0 describes the most important aspects of transmission as it is the expected number of hosts that can trace their infection directly back to a single host after one disease generation. For vector-borne diseases, such as malaria, R0 is given by a classic formula.
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15 human genomes each week
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute has sequenced the equivalent of 300 human genomes in just over six months. The Institute has just reached the staggering total of 1,000,000,000,000 letters of genetic code that will be read by researchers worldwide, helping them to understand the role of genes in health and disease. Scientists will be able to answer questions unthinkable even a few years ago and human medical genetics will be transformed.
Researchers block transmission of malaria in animal tests
By disrupting the potassium channel of the malaria parasite, a team of researchers has been able to prevent new malaria parasites from forming in mosquitoes and has thereby broken the cycle of infection during recent animal tests.
Researchers find human virus in chimpanzees
After studying chimpanzees in the wilds of Tanzania's Mahale Mountains National Park for the past year as part of a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, Virginia Tech researcher Dr. Taranjit Kaur and her team have produced powerful scientific evidence that chimpanzees are becoming sick from viral infectious diseases they have likely contracted from humans.
Scientists demonstrate feasibility of preventing malaria parasite from becoming sexually mature
Researchers have demonstrated the possibility of preventing the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, which is responsible for more than a million malaria deaths a year, from becoming sexually mature.
Protein plays key role in transmitting deadly malaria parasite
The protein MAEBL is critical for completing the life cycle of malaria parasites in mosquitoes, allowing the insects to transmit the potentially deadly infection to humans, a University of South Florida study has shown. The research may ultimately help provide a way to better control malaria by blocking development of the malaria parasite in the mosquito.
Don't blame the trees: Social factors, not forests, dictate disease patterns
A new study published February 6 in the open access journal
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases suggests that socioeconomic factors best explain patterns of the infectious disease American Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (ACL) in Costa Rica. Contrary to the established belief that deforestation reduces the risk of infection, the research shows that deforestation may actually make socially marginalized human populations more vulnerable to infection.
Antiretroviral drugs may protect against sexual transmission of HIV
A new study in macaques suggests that antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV could also protect people from getting the AIDS virus, especially if two drugs are taken in combination before exposure to the virus occurs.
Malaria vaccine trials begin using 'chimpanzee virus'
Trials are underway, funded by the Wellcome Trust, for a new vaccine to combat the most deadly form of malaria. For the first time ever, researchers will use a virus found in chimpanzees to boost the efficacy of the vaccine. The trials will take place at the University of Oxford's Jenner Institute, led by its Director, Professor Adrian Hill.