In a sense, a malaria-transmitting mosquito is a sick mosquito. This is where bacteria can help ..read more

Mosquitoes can be genetically modified to help reduce the number of malaria-carrying mosquitoes, and therefore malaria transmission ..read more

Water bodies such as the Nile River, pictured here running through Juba in South Sudan, are included in the new model. Frontpage The relationship between climate and malaria transmission is complex and has been the subject of intense study for some three decades. Mosquito vector populations sufficient to maintain malaria transmission occur within a particular range of temperatures and humidity that are suitable for their survival and breeding. The parasite also needs suitable temperatures to complete its mosquito life stages. And mosquitoes need surface water to breed in. These conditions have ..read more

Until three years ago nobody had developed a vaccine against any parasitic disease. Now there are two against malaria: the RTS,S and the R21 vaccines. Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford and chief investigator for the R21 vaccine, tells Nadine Dreyer why he thinks this is a great era for malaria control. What makes malaria such a difficult disease to beat? Malaria has been around for 30 million years. Human beings have not. Our hominoid predecessors were being infected by malaria parasites tens of millions of years ago, so these parasites had a lot of prac ..read more

Malaria incidents are on the rise. There were 249 million cases of this parasitic disease in 2022, five million more than in 2021. Africa suffers more than any other region from malaria, with 94% of cases and 95% of deaths worldwide. This year two revolutionary malaria vaccines are being rolled out across the continent. Nadine Dreyer asks Jaishree Raman if 2024 will be the year the continent takes a significant leap towards beating the disease. The RTS,S malaria vaccine The RTS,S vaccine was the first to target a parasite. It was developed by the Walter Reed Army Research Institute after 30 ye ..read more

Detecting tuberculosis early could play a significant role in eradicating the world’s most deadly infectious disease. The World Health Organization says 1.5 million people die from this devastating disease each year. People infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the TB bacteria that attack the lungs, often do not know that they have it until their symptoms become severe. Two out of every five cases of TB remain undiagnosed or hidden. One of the dangers of this is unknowingly infecting others. Current diagnostic methods are slow, often expensive, sometimes difficult to administer and not eas ..read more

Shutterstock The mention of ancient Egypt usually conjures images of colossal pyramids and precious, golden tombs. But as with most civilisations, the invisible world of infectious disease underpinned life and death along the Nile. In fact, fear of disease was so pervasive it influenced social and religious customs. It even featured in the statues, monuments and graves of the Kingdom of the Pharaohs. By studying ancient specimens and artefacts, scientists are uncovering how disease rocked this ancient culture. Tutankhamun’s malaria, and other examples The most direct evidence of epidemics in ..read more

Cape Verde has been certified malaria-free by the World Health Organization. The archipelago to the west of Senegal consists of 10 islands, and has a population of over 500,000 people. It is the third country in Africa to be declared malaria-free, after Mauritius (in 1973) and Algeria (in 2019). This brings the total of malaria-free countries to 43 worldwide. Achieving malaria-free certification is no simple feat. As specialists in malaria prevention and control, we explain Cape Verde’s long journey to eliminating the disease that killed over 600,000 people worldwide in 2022. How Cape Verde ac ..read more

The approval of two malaria vaccines – the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine in 2021 and the R21/Matrix-MTM vaccine in 2023 – will help control, and eventually help eradicate, a disease that causes more than 600,000 deaths annually. Nearly 2 million children in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi have been vaccinated with the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine. It will be rolled out to more African countries from early next year. The second vaccine, R21/Matrix-MTM, approved by the World Health Organization in October, will be ready for rollout in mid-2024. Rose Leke, winner of the 2023 Virchow Prize for her lifetime achievement in stre ..read more

Microbes such as bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi form part of our everyday lives – they live in us, on us and around us. We need them for healthy digestion, immune function, and the synthesis of essential nutrients, and we depend on them for farming and industrial processes. But microbes also cause disease in people, animals and plants. That is why science has developed an arsenal of antimicrobials that kill them or slow their spread. Over time, microbes develop resistance to antimicrobials, and some eventually evolve into so-called “superbugs” that no longer respond to the drugs. So we ..read more