Innovations Transforming Malaria Control

Researchers discover new weapon against antibiotic resistance arsinothricin— it also fights malaria. Florida International University (FIU). Published: June 29,2023. Excerpt: FIU scientists discovered the first and only known natural arsenic-containing antibiotic to fight antibiotic resistance. Now, research reveals it can stop transmission of a deadly disease spreading in the U.S. for the first time in 20 years: malaria.    A team from FIU’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine developed arsinothricin (#AST) to combat the rise of #antibiotic-#resistant #bacteria. Lab tests proved AST effectively defeated the most notorious, including #Ecoli and #Mycobacteria, which cause #tuberculosis.   Collaborating with malaria researchers in the College of Arts, Sciences & Education, researchers also found #AST #prevents #Plasmodium #falciparum, the #parasite that causes #malaria, from #infecting #mosquitoes — unlike other current antimalarial drugs. The discovery, recently published in Microorganisms, paves the way for AST to one day be developed into a more effective #antimalarial drug for #humans.   “Current antimalarials does not completely stop transmission, meaning patients can continue to infect mosquitoes before they recover,” said lead author of the study Masafumi Yoshinaga, associate professor of Cellular Biology & Pharmacology. “Developing new potent multi-stage drugs is imperative to ensure malaria elimination and eradication. We found AST is a promising lead compound for developing a new class of potent multi-stage antimalarials.” #Note: While #AST contains #arsenic — an incredibly toxic, deadly poison — it is not pure arsenic. In fact, since the early 1900s, arsenic-based medications have been used to safely treat and prevent many diseases. When FIU researchers tested AST on liver, kidney and intestinal cells, AST targeted the malaria parasite lurking in human cells but didn’t damage the cells themselves. An estimated 240 million malaria cases are reported worldwide every year. While the majority occur in Africa, malaria can still happen in the U.S. Recently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (#CDC) issued a health alert about several locally acquired malaria infections in Florida and Texas, marking the first time it has spread in the United States since 2003. Publication: Microorganisms 2023, 11(5), 1195; Arsinothricin Inhibits Plasmodium falciparum Proliferation in Blood and Blocks Parasite Transmission to Mosquitoes. https://lnkd.in/e4NfDFTk https://lnkd.in/eYUYuZ-y

Scientists create modified mosquitoes that can’t carry malaria anymore Scientists are developing a new way to stop malaria that does not rely on killing mosquitoes but instead makes them unable to spread the parasite that causes the disease. Rather than trying to wipe out mosquito populations, researchers are using gene drive technology to spread modified genes through mosquito families at rates far higher than normal inheritance. This means a chosen genetic change can quickly become common across many generations of mosquitoes. Gene drives bias inheritance so offspring inherit the engineered trait far more often than by chance, allowing the change to propagate efficiently. In a recent experiment involving gene‑edited mosquitoes developed in Tanzania, these insects inherited modifications that interfere with the malaria parasite’s ability to replicate and be transmitted. The altered mosquitoes breed normally and survive like their unmodified peers, but the genetic change that blocks the parasite spreads rapidly through populations, potentially reducing malaria transmission without harming other species. This approach differs from earlier ideas that aimed to collapse mosquito numbers, and it could offer a more ecologically sensitive way to control the disease. Although promising, this gene drive technology is still in the research phase. Scientists are carefully studying how the modified genes behave in diverse parasite environments and assessing ecological safety before any real‑world deployment. Research Paper 📄 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24790-6

Alongside important research evaluating the safety and potential of gene drive for malaria control, which I spotlighted earlier this week, scientists in Tanzania are also advancing the technology itself.     At Transmission Zero, part of the Ifakara Health Institute, researchers are working to genetically modify malaria-carrying mosquitoes so they can no longer transmit the parasite.     By drawing on natural defenses from the European honeybee and African clawed frog, they identified antimicrobial peptides that block malaria parasite development. With gene drive technology, these protective traits can spread through malaria-carrying mosquito populations—offering the potential for durable, cost-effective protection.     Importantly, this work is being led by scientists and communities in malaria-endemic regions, ensuring the technology is relevant, trusted, and responsive to local needs. See this work in action below: https://lnkd.in/gfM_3Yva  #WorldMosquitoWeek 

A Breakthrough in Malaria Prevention  Malaria claims over 600,000 lives annually, mostly young children. While existing vaccines like RTS,S and R21 have shown progress, they require boosters and offer limited efficacy. A pivotal study in Nature Medicine introduces a promising new approach. Using genetically attenuated Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites (GA2), researchers achieved 90% protection against malaria with just a single dose. These parasites arrest late in the liver stage, triggering strong immunity without causing disease. The vaccine also generated robust immune responses, including polyfunctional CD4+ T cells and malaria-specific antibodies, while being safe and well-tolerated. This innovation could simplify vaccine delivery in malaria-endemic regions, reducing logistical barriers and costs. While challenges remain—scaling production, testing in diverse populations, and transitioning from mosquito delivery—GA2 represents a major step forward in malaria vaccine development. #MalariaResearch #Vaccines #GlobalHealth

Scientists Create mRNA Vaccine That Stops Malaria Parasite From Reproducing – 99.7% Effective in Lab Tests In a major leap toward ending malaria, scientists at Australia’s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have developed an experimental mRNA vaccine that blocks the malaria parasite from reproducing inside mosquitoes — cutting transmission by an astonishing 99.7% in laboratory studies. Using advanced cryo-electron microscopy, the team mapped in unprecedented detail how two crucial parasite proteins, Pfs230 and Pfs48/45, fit together like a lock and key during the mosquito stage of the parasite’s life cycle. This protein pairing is essential for the parasite’s fertilization process inside the insect. By pinpointing the exact “connection site” between these proteins, researchers created an mRNA vaccine that trains the human immune system to produce antibodies targeting this bond. When mosquitoes bite vaccinated individuals, these antibodies neutralize the fertilization proteins, stopping the parasite from reproducing — and breaking the chain of transmission. With malaria infecting ~300 million people and killing ~600,000 annually, this approach could be a game-changer when used alongside existing vaccines and treatments, attacking the parasite at multiple stages. The next step: human clinical trials to confirm safety and effectiveness in the real world. Source: Dietrich, Melanie H., et al. Science (2025). DOI: 10.1126/science.eady0241 What are your thoughts on this new approach to fighting malaria? How could this change global health if successful in human trials? Note: The information presented here is for general knowledge and discussion. https://lnkd.in/ehwYS5jU

𝗕𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮’𝘀 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁: 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗥𝗮𝗱𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗱 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗶𝗻𝘀 🦟 Researchers at Radboud University Medical Centre Nijmegen, the Netherlands, led by PhD candidate Ezra Bekkering with Matthijs Jore, together with scientists at The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute in Toronto, have mapped the 3D structures of two long-studied but poorly understood #malaria #parasite #proteins. Although these proteins were first identified in the 1980s, producing them in sufficient quantity for structural work proved difficult. The team spent six months culturing roughly 30 billion #parasites, isolating enough material to analyze and ultimately publishing their findings in Immunity. 🔬 Using cryo-electron #microscopy, the researchers captured millions of microscope images at up to 130,000× magnification to resolve the proteins at near-atomic detail. The proteins form part of a surface complex unique to the malaria parasite and are thought to aid its sexual reproduction - the stage critical for transmission through #mosquitoes. By revealing exactly what these molecules look like, the study provides a structural blueprint for designing transmission-blocking #vaccines that target the parasite inside the #mosquito, interrupting the cycle of spread from person to person. 🦟 This work addresses a major gap in current malaria control. While two malaria vaccines have recently become available, they offer only partial protection and do not stop transmission via mosquitoes. Given that malaria has threatened humans since ancient times and still puts nearly half of the world’s population at risk, the new structures open practical avenues to engineer #antibodies and vaccines that can prevent parasite development in the mosquito. As Jore notes, “If you don’t know what something looks like, it’s hard to protect yourself against it” and these newly solved structures could be pivotal to future, more effective malaria vaccines. 📑 See comments for source.

Scientists at the Uganda Virus Research Institute are developing a new breed of mosquitoes that they say could help cut the population of insects that spread malaria in Uganda. The work is being carried out under Target Malaria Uganda, a research project studying genetic approaches that could one day reduce the number of female malaria-carrying mosquitoes.  Krystal Birungi, a research and outreach associate at the project, says their aim is to sharply reduce egg laying and the number of biting females. ''We are targeting reduction of the number of eggs that these mosquitoes lay. A single mosquito can lay up to 300 eggs at once. So, we are saying, instead of laying 300 eggs, what can we do to see that they lay only 10 or none at all,” Birungi said. The team has already bred mosquitoes that produce about 90 per cent males, a milestone that could lower the number of female mosquitoes, which are the ones that bite and lay eggs. Target Malaria is focusing on reducing female vector mosquitoes because they drive future population growth and are responsible for transmitting malaria.  The project is also studying a strain in which fertile males carry a gene that could make female offspring sterile if inherited from both parents, as well as a male-bias strain that produces mostly male offspring. The scientists say the work is still at an early stage and remains under containment rather than field use in Uganda. The research is taking place against the backdrop of a heavy malaria burden in Uganda.  The World Health Organization said malaria remains one of the deadliest diseases in the country.  Malaria accounts for up to 40 per cent of outpatient visits, 25 per cent of hospital admissions and 14 per cent of hospital deaths in Uganda. In 2023, Uganda was among the five African countries with the highest malaria burden. Uganda has recently expanded its response, including the rollout of the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine for children in high and moderate transmission districts.  World Health Organization says the vaccine programme initially targets 1.1 million children under two years in 105 districts. Malaria Consortium Malaria No More UK

One of my worst memories as a child was battling malaria when I was about 7 years old. It was the first and only time I had the disease but it took every bit of strength (and cocktails of pills) for my little body to get back to health. What a terrible disease. Abdoulaye Diabate faced a life-threatening bout of malaria too when he was just five years old. He narrowly survived the mosquito-borne disease, but cousins ages three and four were not as fortunate. Fast forward, years later, he decided to do something about it. Abdoulaye now heads medical entomology and parasitology at Burkina Faso’s Research Institute in Health Sciences, and is developing an innovative technique that could potentially wipe out malaria-transmitting mosquito species by altering their genes. The Burkina Faso-born scientist and professor was awarded the 2023 Falling Walls Prize for Science and Innovation Management for his research, which organizers said “offers hope for malaria control.” He was the only African among 10 global winners of the prestigious award in 2023 and was also recognized by the Falling Walls Foundation for “contributing some of the world’s most advanced work on genetic solutions to malaria.” Malaria killed an estimated 619,000 people globally in 2021, according to WHO’s last published data. Around 96% of those deaths happened in Africa, and 80% of casualties on the continent “were among children under the age of 5.” With gene drive, female mosquito species that transmit the disease are prevented from producing new female offspring through the release of gene-edited males that are made sterile into the environment. With the technology he is working on, Abdoulaye says the female mosquito population would be depleted and malaria transmission halted. Here’s to seeing this project scaled and rolled out across Africa sooner rather than later. Thank you, Abdoulaye DIABATE for taking on the challenge! #innovation #health #malaria #africa

“You always have to think ahead of the mosquito.”  Dr. Corine Ngufor, an entomologist in Benin, has spent her career doing exactly that. For years, insecticide-treated bed nets have been a critical—and relatively simple—innovation in the prevention of malaria infections in Africa. But climate change and a growing resistance to the insecticides in the nets have resulted in slowed progress. In fact, after nearly two decades of decline, malaria cases increased by 14 million from 2019 to 2020.  Determined to reverse the trend, Dr. Ngufor and her team spent years testing insecticides with prototype after prototype, ultimately finding an effective solution: Interceptor G2 (IG2) nets treated with chlorfenapyr. From 2019 to 2022, dual-treated IG2 nets have prevented 13 million malaria cases, saving approximately 25,000 lives. These nets get to communities with the support of partners like The Global Fund. I’m in awe of how Dr. Ngufor’s determination, expertise, and ingenuity have created a brighter future for so many people around the world. Hear more of her story: https://lnkd.in/ebRijHe7.

New tools saved a million lives from #malaria last year but progress under threat as #drug #resistance rises Wider use of new tools against malaria, including dual-ingredient #nets and World Health Organization-recommended #vaccines helped to prevent an estimated 170 million cases and 1 million #deaths in 2024, according to WHO's annual World malaria report WHO-recommended tools are increasingly being integrated into broader #health systems. Since WHO approved the world's 1st malaria vaccines in 2021, 24 countries have introduced the vaccines into their routine #immunization programmes. Seasonal malaria #chemoprevention has also been expanded, implemented in 20 countries, reaching 54 million #children in 2024, an increase from about 0.2 million in 2012 Progress is also being made in eliminating malaria. To date, a total of 47 countries and 1 territory have been certified malaria-free by WHO. Cabo Verde and Egypt were certified malaria-free in 2024. Georgia, Suriname, and Timor-Leste joined them in 2025. Despite this significant progress, there were an estimated 282 million malaria cases and 610 000 deaths in 2024 roughly 9 million more cases than the previous year An estimated 95% of these deaths were in the WHO African Region, with most occurring among children under 5. The report shows that #antimalarial drug resistance is growing and stands in the way of achieving malaria #elimination. "New tools for #prevention of malaria are giving us new hope, but we still face significant challenges," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO DG "Increasing numbers of cases and deaths, the growing #threat of drug resistance and the impact of funding cuts all threaten to roll back the progress we have made over the past two decades. However, none of these challenges is insurmountable. With the leadership of the most-affected countries and targeted #investment, the vision of a malaria-free world remains achievable" The World malaria report spotlights evidence on partial resistance to #artemisinin derivatives, which became the backbone of malaria #treatments after failures of #chloroquine and #sulfadoxine-#pyrimethamine. Antimalarial drug resistance has now been confirmed or suspected in at least 8 countries in Africa, and there are potential signs of declining #efficacy of the drugs that are combined with artemisinin Progress in reducing the malaria deaths a key target of the Global technical strategy for malaria 2016-2030 remains far off track. In 2024, there were 610 000 deaths. This corresponds to 13.8 malaria deaths / 100 000, more than 3 times the global target of 4.5 deaths / 100 000 Malaria #parasites with pfhrp2 gene deletions remain prevalent Anopheles stephensi #mosquitoes resistant to many commonly used insecticides have now invaded 9 African countries https://lnkd.in/ettkq-pz The Global Fund, Medicines for Malaria Venture