Africa: Taking Down Malaria's Bodyguards - Scientists Target Parasite's Secret Defence System

Africa: Taking Down Malaria's Bodyguards - Scientists Target Parasite's Secret Defence System

Analysis - Malaria remains one of the world's most devastating infectious diseases, claiming more than half a million lives each year. In Africa, the illness is mostly caused by a parasite carried by mosquitoes - Plasmodium falciparum.

Taking down malaria’s bodyguards: scientists target parasite’s secret defence system

Malaria remains one of the world’s most devastating infectious diseases, claiming more than half a million lives each year. In Africa, the illness is mostly caused by a parasite carried by mosquitoes – Plasmodium falciparum. When the parasite invades the human body, it faces a hostile environment: soaring fevers, attacks from the body’s immune system, and the stress of antimalarial medicines. Yet it can survive, thanks to an internal defence sys…