Nat-n-Bio

Scientists inch closer to a vaccine against the mosquito-borne Plasmodium falciparum, the world’s most lethal parasite This graphic originally appeared with the article «Halting the World’s Most Lethal Parasite,» in the November 2010 issue of Scientific American. We are posting it as background for today’s announcement of good success in a phase III trial using a traditional vaccine by GlaxoSmithKline. Scroll down to see the illustration. For decades the public health community has tried to devise a vaccine that would confer lifetime immunity against the malaria parasite and[...] 

A new malaria vaccine, a plan to immunize mosquitoes, and other «crazy» ideas have brightened prospects for vanquishing this killer By Mary Carmichael DEADLY CARGO: The Anopheles mosquito carries the malaria parasite responsible for disease and death in much of the tropics. Image: EVA-MARIA PASIEKA Corbis Right now, somewhere in the world—in a petri dish in Baltimore, maybe, or in the salivary glands of a laboratory-bred mosquito in Seattle, or in the bloodstream of a villager in Ghana—resides a chemical compound that could help eradicate human history’s biggest killer. Scientists have[...] 

DDT a potent weapon against malaria Kelvin Kemm | 20 May 2011 World Malaria Day is celebrated in April each year. As this important day slips past unnoticed by most, it is worth pondering the disease for a while. I have had an interest in malaria for many years and, a few years ago, I was invited to write a chapter in a book published in London on Third World health. My chapter was on malaria and the wonder chemical DDT. I was amazed at what I found out when I really looked into the topic. DDT is not at all harmful, as so many activists have claimed. South Africa is currently a world leader[...]