A new study has revealed that malaria drug resistance in Southeast Asia is caused by a single mutated gene, K13, in the disease-causing Plasmodium falciparum parasite.
K13 mutations produce a relatively weak resistance. A related study shows that K13 mutations enable the parasite to hide in red blood cells in a developmental state that is naturally less vulnerable to artemisinin.
Malaria
Malaria is caused by a parasite that enters blood through the bite of an infected mosquito. It is characterized by fever, vomiting, shivering, sweating and other symptoms.
Advertisement
David Fidock, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology and of medical sciences at Columbia University Medical Center, said, "This allows them to temporarily survive treatment, but it will not be enough for ACTs to fail across Africa, particularly as the partner drugs continue to be highly effective, but it may be a foundation for parasites to evolve stronger degrees of resistance to these therapies, so we have to watch for increasing resistance very carefully."
He added, "The bad news about our finding is that it shows that resistance can arise through single mutations in one gene and pop up anywhere, at any time. It's quite different from past instances with former first-line drugs, when complex sets of multiple mutations were required and resistance spread only as the mutated parasites spread."
The study is published in Science.
Source: Medindia
The study is published in Science.
Source: Medindia
Malaria - Waterborne
Encyclopedia section of medindia gives general information about About Malaria Causes
Advertisement
 Mosquito DiseasesMosquito-borne diseases, like malaria, filaria, dengue, etc are common in places conducive of mosquito breeding. Swamps, ponds and stagnated drainage provide optimal breeding ground for mosquitoes. | Advertisement
|
New Herbal Remedy to Fight Malaria
Recent research has shown that the powdered dried leaves of Artemisia annua is much more effective in treating malaria than the purified form of the drug artemisinin.
Advertisement
Recommended Reading
Latest Tropical Disease News
Pregnant women in Korogwe, Tanzania are found to have a high risk of contracting malaria, which is one of the deadliest diseases in sub-Saharan Africa.
Can nasal swab test save you from emerging diseases? Yes, simple nasal swab can offer early detection of new deadly viruses.
Brain-eating amoeba (Naegleria fowleri) infection claims a South Korean man's life.
Harmless infrared light is used to detect malaria with the help of a computer algorithm processed by a smart phone.
Monkeypox virus may be shed into semen during both acute and convalescent stages of the disease in crab-eating macaques.