LONDON (Reuters) – An international research team says it has
found a way to identify hotspots of malaria parasite evolution
and track the rise of resistance to malaria drugs faster and
more efficiently than before. The success of the technique,
which involves analyzing the genetic maps of malaria parasites
straight from patients’ blood samples, suggests scientists
should be able to track changes in the parasite population and
follow the disease’s evolution. Malaria infects more than 200
million people worldwide every year and kills around 600,000 of
them — primarily children under age five in sub-Saharan Africa.
Experts say one of the most challenging features of the parasite
plasmodium falciparum is its ability to evolve and overcome
anti-malarial drugs, which is undermining global work toward
eradicating the killer disease. “If we want to control
resistance, we first need to be able to monitor the genetic
diversity of P. falciparum and identify hotspots of potential
resistance as they occur,” said Dominic