About Us Portfolio Press Careers Sitemap Advertise Contact Us Make this your Homepage

Custom Search

Register

Sign In

Sign In Using Facebook

Home » Tropical Disease News

Fatal Forms of Malaria Identified by Protein Biomarkers

by Hannah Punitha on December 09, 2008 at 1:02 PM Tropical Disease News

Canadian researchers have identified protein biomarkers that could facilitate easy diagnosis of two severe and debilitating forms of malaria.

Related Links

With the findings, scientists have shed new light on the development two crippling malaria variations - one that develops in the placenta of pregnant women affecting countless unborn children, the other, cerebral malaria, that develops in the brain's blood vessels - malaria's most deadly form.

Since ages malaria has notoriously stalked pregnant women, said Tropical disease specialists affiliated with Toronto's McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health (MRC).

A decade ago, researchers showed malaria parasites could accumulate in the newly created placenta. But Dr. Kevin Kain, Director of the Sandra A. Rotman Laboratories at the MRC, said that it's still unclear how parasites hiding in the placenta actually result in placental and foetal injury.

And in the new research, the scientists claim to have unravelled part of this mystery, by finding that women with placental malaria carry a biomarker in their blood - a protein called C5a, which is an important part of the body's innate defence against infections but one that needs to be carefully controlled.

At the time of over-activation by malaria infection, C5a appears leads to an excessive inflammatory response and disrupts normal blood vessel growth in the placenta, raising the risk of spontaneous abortions or low birth weight infants.

The scientists conducted tests on pregnant women in Kenya, and found that those with placental malaria had elevated levels of C5a in their blood compared to expectant mothers without the disease.

Page 1

Page 1 | 2

Next

Married Men are More Likely to Go for Early Prostate Cancer Screening

Potential New Drug Targets to Control Cholesterol Developed

More News on: Malaria-water, Malaria, Mosquito Diseases, Protein Catabolic Rate, Fever

Comment & Contribute

Be the first to comment!
Comments should be on the topic and should not be abusive. Comments are normally moderated and are reviewed after they are posted.
* Your comment can be maximum of 2500 characters
	Notify me when reply is posted I agree to the terms and conditions
Your comments are automatically posted once they are submitted. All comments are however constantly reviewed for spam and irrelevant material (such as product or personal advertisements, email addresses, telephone numbers and website address). Such insertions do not conform to our policy and 'Terms of Use' and are either deleted or edited and republished. Please keep your comments brief and relevant.This section may also have questions seeking help. If you have the information you are welcome to respond, but please ensure that the information so provided is genuine and not misleading.

Medwonders Health Network

Support Groups Members Discussions

Total Members - 54894
Support Groups - 445

Health News Index

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Latest News Most Popular Most Commented

Research Suggests Red Wine Alone may Not be the Elixir of Life

Babies' Health may be Compromised by the 'Too Posh to Push' Attitude

Research Sheds Light on Usefulness of Bubble-Propelled Microrockets

Broken Bones may be Fixed in Less Than 4 Weeks by 'Fracture Putty'

AIDS Drug Venture in South Africa Worth $208 Million

News Archive
Date :
Category :
Keyword :

News Quick Links

	News Central			Health Watch
	Latest Health News			Health In Focus
	News Category (500+)			Breaking Health News
	Popular News			Celebrating Life
	Health News and Press Release			Medindia - Exclusive
	News Photo Gallery			India Special
	News Video Gallery			Lifestyle and Wellness
	News From Other Resources

Malaria

Complete Medindia Resources

News Categories:


»	How Would You Rate Your Health?

»	Plastic Addicted Teen Has Consumed More Than 60,000 Goods

»	Career Graph is Great for People Who Have Easy to Pronounce Names

»	6000-Calorie Breakfast Consumed in 26 Minutes

»	Study Reveals Why You Should Not Opt for Window Seat During Long Flight
More Life Style News

Tropical Disease Related News
»	'Test and Treat' Model Provides New Tactic for Malaria Eradication	»	Research on Vitamins Can Craft Novel Drugs to Encounter Malaria, Claims Southampton Varsity
»	Vitamin Biosynthesis Discovery Might Lead to Fresh Anti-Malaria Drug	»	Malaria's Genetic Secrets Could be Unravelled by Latest Technique
»	UN Reports Spike in Cholera Cases in DR Congo	»	Mass Vaccination for Low Diffusion Areas Intimated by New Model for Likely Malaria Vaccination
»	Disparities in Wealthy States Mounts, Maladies Sink: WHO	»	Cardinal Protein the Survival of Malaria Parasite Detected

Read More >>

Accident and Trauma Care Support Group	Acupuncture Support Group	Albinism / Hypopigmentation / Albinos Support Group
Alcohol abuse / Alcohol dependence / Alcoholism Support Group	Aromatherapy Support Group	Avian Influenza / Bird Flu Support Group
Ayurveda Support Group	Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Support Group	Birth Defects - Metabolic Defects Support Group

Fatal Forms of Malaria Identified by Protein Biomarkers

Medwonders Health Network

Tropical Disease Related News

Consumers

Medical Professionals

Medical Students

Directories