Wüstenschiff

MALARIA - ANGOLA: 2011
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Date: Tue 24 Jan 2012
Source: Angola Press Agency (Angop) [edited]
http://www.portalangop.co.ao/motix/en_u ... bfe13.html


Over 2 million malaria cases registered in 2011
-----------------------------------------------
At least 2.9 million cases of malaria were registered last year [2011] all over the country, announced the coordinator of Malaria Combat Programme, Filomeno Fortes.

This was said to ANGOP on the sidelines of the presentation ceremony of the inquire of malaria indicative in the country, informing that in the previous years the estimate was of 4 million suspected cases per year, representing a great reduction.

Filomeno Fortes informed that for the control of the disease quick diagnostics tests and a very efficient treatment were introduced, reinforced by spreading sanitation network all over the country.

"All our effort to reduce malaria achieves good results, since there was a reduction of 700 000 cases," he said.

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[Malaria is endemic in Angola. The 2010 World Malaria Report states 2 221 076 cases, slightly lower than reported here.

A HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of Angola can be accessed at http://healthmap.org/r/1iGj. - Mod.EP]

MALARIA - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (ABU DHABI): IMPORTED
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Date: Fri 27 Jan 2012
Source: The National [edited]
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news ... -in-a-year


Cases of malaria double in a year
---------------------------------
More than 2000 cases of malaria were reported in Abu Dhabi last year, more than double the number in 2010. They all came from outside the UAE, maintaining the country's malaria-free status, which it has held since 2007.

There were 2129 cases in the 1st 9 months of 2011, an increase of more than 1000 on the whole of 2010. Figures for the last 3 months of last year have not yet been released.

Dr Farida Al Hosani, section head of communicable diseases at the Health Authority Abu Dhabi (Haad), said the rise was both expected and welcomed. "We shifted in 2010 to an electronic surveillance system. Previously it was a manual system so the compliance was less, and as the number increases, so does our view of what is happening," the doctor said.

The UAE gained its malaria-free status from the World Health Organisation a decade after reporting its last local case in 1997, and was the 1st country in the Middle East to achieve the status.

Overall, the GCC region has a good record of controlling the disease, said Dr Ziad A Memish, Assistant Deputy Minister for Preventive Medicine for the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia and Director of the GCC Centre for Infection Control.

"Out of the whole GCC region, only the southern part of Saudi Arabia and Yemen have cases of malaria. That's where the activity is." The constant flow of expats to and from the UAE, as well as its status as a holiday destination, has led to Haad increasing its focus to pinpoint cases of the disease, said Dr Al Hosani. "For malaria the numbers from 2009 until today have almost doubled. This is not only because the reporting improved, but because there were some outbreaks in nearby countries."

Flooding in Pakistan added to the problem, she said. Other countries where malaria is endemic include India and Malaysia. "The country is receiving large numbers of travellers and foreign workers every year, many of whom come from endemic areas and may have the malaria infection. With the continuing existence of local Anopheles mosquitoes, which pass the disease to humans, transmission of malaria will continue to be a risk," according to the latest volume of Haad's communicable diseases bulletin, which was made public yesterday.

The most obvious symptom of the disease is a fever, said Dr Mohamed Hamad, the infection control chief at Lifeline Hospital. Abdominal pain can also be a sign, said the doctor, who receives on average 3 patients a month with malaria.

Following guidelines issued by Haad, any cases are reported to the authority's infectious diseases department for further assessment. "We send for a blood test and if it comes back positive, we send it to the Centre for Disease Control department at Haad." Most of the doctor's cases come from Pakistan, India and Sudan. Given the somewhat vague symptoms, Dr Memish said doctors must check a patient's history to analyse the problem.

"Usually it is a fever, body aches, back pain or headaches. They are very non-specific and unless you are conscious of it and aware of the person's travel history, then you won't be able to pick it up." According to Haad's report, the mortality rate worldwide has dropped by more than a quarter in the past 12 years, although the drop is marginally higher in Africa. For now, to ensure the UAE remained malaria free, preventive measures will be carried out more frequently.

Alongside workshops for health care professionals, farms will be checked thoroughly for their methods of control, said Dr Al Hosani. "We coordinate with the environmental agency to ensure that malaria breeding is under control. And we inspect farms. The malaria surveillance team will go on a regular basis to farms to monitor the breeding and the control of mosquitoes." Workshops have also been given to companies that supply insecticides to farms, she said. "Since the number of cases of malaria has increased, we need to increase our efforts as well to ensure the best control."

[Byline:
zalhassani@thenational.ae]

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[UAE is not included in the list of countries for which malaria cases are reported in the World Malaria Report. All cases were reportedly imported and early case detection and treatment is important to prevent local transmission. The outbreak of P.vivax malaria in Greece most certainly originated from people infected in endemic areas traveling to Greece for work, a situation very similar to the situation reported in Abu Dhabi. HealthMap location: http://healthmap.org/r/1HAG. - Mod.EP]

An wen wende ich mich denn, um mir eine Malariaprophylaxe zu sichern?
Gehe ich am besten zum Arzt oder zum Apotheker?
Plane nämlich eine Afrikareise mit meiner Frau. Wäre mir wichtig vorzusorgen.

Grüße

Hallo Dasti,

du kannst zu deinem Arzt gehen. Sollte sich in deiner Nähe ein Tropeninstitut oder Gesundheitsamt befinden, kannst du auch diese Konsultieren. Eine Aphotheke wird dir keine Medikamente ohne Arztbesuch aushändigen, da die meisten verschreibungspflichtig sind.

Grüsse
Alexander

Malaria Doppelt so viele Malariatote wie gedacht

Malaria tötet doppelt so viele Menschen auf der Erde wie bislang angenommen. 2010 starben rund 1,2 Millionen daran Erkrankte, wie US-Forscher mit Hilfe von Rechenmodellen ermittelt haben. mehr...

Grüsse
Alexander

MALARIA, DRUG RESISTANT - SOUTHEAST ASIA
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Date: Thu 22 Mar 2012
Source: Ars Technica [edited]
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/201 ... spread.ars


Drug resistant malaria takes new ground, raising fears of global spread
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In Southeast Asia, drug-resistant falciparum malaria may have evolved resistance to another frontline therapy and established itself in new territory in western Thailand, according to the World Health Organization. The new area in Thailand joins previous hot spots in Cambodia, Viet Nam, and Myanmar, with the latter being badly equipped to stanch further spread. Despite containment efforts, the possibility this strain may spread to Africa, which has the most significant malaria burden, remains very real.

Twice before, drug resistance has appeared 1st in Southeast Asia then migrated to Africa (which bears a punishing 90 percent of the world's malaria burden). Malaria intensity at the Thai-Cambodia border is comparatively light, but somehow parasites at this location have managed to evolve a tolerance for some previous frontline drugs, chloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. From 1980 to 2004, malaria deaths increased 3-fold to an estimated 1.8 million, according to a study published in The Lancet. Antimalarial drug resistance was "the likely driver" according to the study [Murray CJ et al: Global malaria mortality between 1980 and 2010: a systematic analysis. Lancet. 2012; 379(9814): 413-31; http://www.lancet.com/journals/lancet/a ... 8/fulltext].

Artemisinin-based therapies now occupy the frontline of antimalarial therapy worldwide and have helped control the epidemic. Artemisinin is usually administered as part of combination therapies (ACTs), where it is paired with medicines that persist longer in the bloodstream to mop up residual parasites. By striking at parasites in 2 ways at once, the probability of mutations providing resistance to both drugs simultaneously becomes, in theory, infinitesimal.

ACT deployment is massive, with demand likely surpassing 250 million courses in 2011. The loss of ACTs as an effective therapy would have huge consequences. "Malaria control completely depends on ACTs," as Arjen Dondorp put it last October [2011]. Dondorp is Deputy Director of the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit in Thailand.

But the efficacy of artemisinin is weakening, despite its remarkable prowess. Swift action has been the drug's hallmark, but the parasites along the Thai-Cambodia border region have slowed the drug's pharmacodynamic rush. The time to clear parasites has grown longer in these regions. Worrying signs began appearing in 2002. Initially suspicion fell on the partner drug, mefloquine. But by 2006, artemisinin clearly lost a step. Some parasites, found in certain geographic areas, remained after the standard 3-day treatment. Slowing clearance times are known harbingers of resistance.

And so it proved: treatment failures continued rising. As a result, Cambodia switched in 2008 to the most recently approved ACT. That pairs artemisinin with piperaquine, a chemical relative of chloroquine. As long as the partner drug continued to work, treatment would succeed. "Despite the changes observed in parasite sensitivity to artemisinins," the World Health Organization stated in late 2010, "the clinical and parasitological efficacy of ACTs is not yet compromised."

Initially, piperaquine restored the therapeutic punch of ACTs. But artemisinin continued to buckle. ACT treatment failures in some areas rose from just 8 percent in 2008 to 28 percent in 2010. As artemisinin left behind an increasing fraction of multi-billion parasite infections (that's how many parasites an infected, symptomatic person typically carries), pressure grew on the less capable partner drug. Within the noise of the clinical data on the new ACT came disturbing sounds of piperaquine cracking, but it was hard to be sure.

WHO worried last November [2011]: "resistance against piperaquine has far reaching consequences and needs urgent confirmation." Today, WHO believes that increasing treatment failures are "most probably due to piperaquine resistance," according to Pascal Ringwald, coordinator of WHO's Drug Resistance and Containment program.

Saving artemisinin
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Substantial efforts have gone into preserving the effectiveness of this critical malaria fighter. Having twice seen the drug resistance drama play out, the malaria research community and global health authorities have tried for a full script rewrite. "We are staying one step ahead of malaria," said WHO Director General Margaret Chan last October [2011].

Over the last several years, with funding from the Gates Foundation, the WHO containment effort drew a noose around the "Tier 1" zones of confirmed resistance in Cambodia near the Thai border. Cases were choked off considerably, but resistance has not gone away.

A low but steady number of cases have been reported since late 2009, despite well-coordinated, intensive screening and treatment of entire villages, including every man, woman, and child. If the example of Cambodia is indicative of the limits of intervention, eliminating drug resistant malaria may not succeed. And unless resistant parasites are completely eliminated, the eventual spread of resistance is considered inevitable.

The limited spread and low levels of infection led Melinda Gates to say "data indicate that the resistance is being contained." But even as she spoke, the limits of containment were apparent. A new resistance hot spot is now suspected around Mae Sot in western Thailand, near the border with Myanmar. It's unclear if Mae Sot represents a spread of drug-dodging parasites or de novo development.

Thailand was already moving into a nationwide resistance control and elimination effort, and the country has been highly successful in suppressing malaria within its borders. However, containment efforts generally face nearly insurmountable difficulties. People can carry low levels of malaria parasites and not show symptoms, and these asymptomatic carriers can still be bitten by mosquitos and support the transmission of resistant parasites.

Total elimination may require mass population screening and drug administration, but not all infections can be detected. Microscopy screening isn't sensitive enough. PCR-based methods are more discriminating, but they are also more expensive and require technical skills. And, although it's vastly more sensitive than microscopy, even PCR can miss very low levels of parasitemia believed capable of sustaining transmission. Thailand's roll-out of PCR-based surveillance has evidently been shelved in favor of an expanded microscopy network.

If finding all the resistant parasites looks daunting, so does killing them. As researchers recognized in 2009, the contest with drug resistance has a "last man standing" character. The difficulty of elimination escalates because "the last few infections to be cleared are almost all resistant."

The greater the frequency of resistant malaria, the greater the chance of further evolutionary evasion of drugs. And here, things also look discouraging. Surveillance continues to discover additional resistance foci. Mae Sot joins the known hot spots in Cambodia, one in Viet Nam, and several confirmed and suspected regions in Myanmar. Chinese scientists in Yunnan province (across Myanmar's northern border) have published results showing increasing parasite clearance times. This likely means artemisinin resistance. Confirming resistance is tricky, as results hinge on the quality of the microscopy, which is unknown.

Resistant malaria in Myanmar is hugely worrisome in multiple respects. The Tier 1 population of people in areas with drug resistant strains in Cambodia totaled just 270 000. In Myanmar, Tier 1 encompasses a population nearly 20 times larger, 4.8 million people. Myanmar's border areas in the north and east are uncontrolled and coincide with areas of drug resistance. The central government, now apparently reforming, has continued to engage in clashes with ethnic-based militias in those areas. Villages sometimes burn to the ground in the conflict, while the civilian/combatant distinction essentially does not exist.

Migration and genetics
----------------------
That past spread may provide lessons for the present. Africa once switched from chloroquine because of resistance originating in Southeast Asia. But researchers realized the alleles for resistance to the new drug, sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), were already sprinkled across the continent at low frequency. Crucially, there is no fitness cost for SP resistance, enabling its random spread in the parasite population. When SP moved to the malaria frontline, resistance grew very rapidly because the genetic basis was already present. Just add drug selection pressure and resistant alleles quickly come to dominate the parasite population.

Resistance to SP is easy to uncover: point mutations in the dihydrofolate reductase and dihydropteroate synthase genes provide reliable biomarkers. Artemisinin resistance is far harder to detect. Instead of comparatively easy assays, a kind of small scale clinical trial is required in which parasite clearance times must be carefully measured over a 3-day course of treatment with an adequately sized cohort of patients.

Continent-wide surveillance is infeasible with such methods. Selective monitoring would perhaps survey places in Africa like South Sudan where malaria conditions similar to Cambodia prevail. But South Sudan may be the most violent place on earth, beset from the outside through vaguely defined new borders and lacerated within by internecine tribal violence.

The absence of biomarkers not only makes artemisinin resistance hard to find, it makes distinguishing the spread of existing mutations from the appearance of new ones impossible. If the blooms of resistance in Southeast Asia are independent, resistant strains might not need to be transferred for resistance to develop roots in Africa.

Asked whether elimination of drug resistant malaria was now impossible, WHO's Pascal Ringwald answered indirectly. "The Prime Minister of Cambodia has declared elimination of malaria as a priority and activities will continue…"

Other experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Gates Foundation also declined to comment on the question. Ringwald points out that "resistance of chloroquine emerged from 7-8 different foci," when it jumped to Africa. Fewer foci have been confirmed so far for artemisinin resistance, but the list is growing and none have been struck off.

[Byline: Robert Fortner]

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Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Mary Marshall

[ProMED-mail reported on the reduced sensitivity of _Plasmodium falciparum_ malaria in 2010 and 2011. Thailand and the border areas to Myanmar (Burma) and Cambodia have been hot spots for the development of resistance to antimalarial drugs since the 1960s, where the 1st reports on chloroquine resistance came from the same area. Later, the 1st reports on mefloquine resistance also came from the border areas between Thailand and Myanmar and Thailand and Cambodia.

A significant drive of resistance is probably the fake drugs containing no or subtherapeutical concentrations of the drugs. This combined with sales of single tablets leads to systematic underdosing and selection of resistant malaria parasites. In a situation where the sales of drugs in Myanmar and Cambodia and probably also in Thailand, the only rational strategy seems to be free distribution of antimalarial treatment with drugs containing appropriate doses.

A HealthMap/ProMED-mail of the region can be seen at http://healthmap.org/r/235J. - Mod.EP]

Neue Medikamente gegen Malaria sind extrem schwer zu entwickeln, denn es fehlt schlicht an Angriffszielen für Wirkstoffe – von den über 5000 Proteinen, die im Genom des Erregers Plasmodium falciparum kodiert sind, kennt man nur in den seltensten Fällen die Funktion. Forscher um den Chemie-Nobelpreisträger Sid Altman haben jedoch eine neue Strategie entwickelt, mit der sie nicht nur die Funktionen all dieser Proteine systematisch erforschen können, sondern die auch direkt gegen den Malariaerreger in roten Blutzellen wirkt. Sie verwendeten dazu ein stabiles RNA-Imitat, das die Entstehung des lebensnotwendigen Proteins Gyrase A unterbindet, und koppelten es an ein Peptid aus menschlichen Immunzellen, das sehr effektiv Zellmembranen durchdringt. Auf diese Weise hinderten sie in ihren Versuchen den Parasiten daran, sich zu entwickeln und zu vermehren.

Neue Strategie gegen den Malaria-Erreger
03.04.2012 - spektrum

Gruß
Birgitt

Zwecks Vollständigkeit hier zum Thema Vorbeugung gegen Malaria u.a. mit Artemisia Annua, einer alternativen Behandlungsmethode zu den sonst gängigen Medikamenten.

Grüsse
Alexander

Die stärkste Waffe der Medizin gegen Malaria droht stumpf zu werden: Der Malariaerreger Plasmodium falciparum wird zunehmend resistent gegen Artemisinin, das bisher wirksamste Mittel gegen die Tropenkrankheit. Forscher haben resistente Varianten nicht mehr nur in Teilen Kambodschas, sondern auch an der Grenze von Thailand und Myanmar entdeckt. Das zeige, dass sich die Resistenz weiter nach Westen ausbreite. Gelinge es nicht, dies einzudämmen, drohe sich die gegen Artemisinin immune Malaria bis nach Indien und auch Afrika auszubreiten, warnt das internationale Forscherteam in zwei Studien, die zeitgleich in den Fachmagazinen "Science" und "The Lancet" erscheinen.

Resistente Malaria-Form breitet sich in Südostasien aus
scinexx - 10.04.2012


Gruß
Birgitt

MALARIA - NIGERIA
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Date: Wed 2 May 2012
Source: Nigerian Tribune [edited]
http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/40 ... h-minister


The Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, has disclosed that Nigeria has the highest number of malaria cases in the world, adding that the country alone contributes 23 per cent, which is almost a quarter of the global malaria cases.

Chukwu, who was represented by Mrs Fatima Bamidele, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, stated this in Lagos on Monday [30 Apr 2012] at a dinner organised to mark the World Malaria Day and also disclosed that the country contributed about 11 per cent of maternal deaths and 30 per cent of child deaths, adding that 47 per cent of the global malaria burden came from just 5 countries, of which Nigeria is one.

He said the country had been making efforts to contain the scourge through measures such as massive distribution of long lasting insecticide-treated nets, saying 46.8 million nets had been distributed so far in 30 states of the country.

Other measures taken to combat malaria, according to him, included scaling up the use of indoor residual spraying (IRS) and larviciding; massive distribution of anti-malarial medicines and commodities; capacity building for health workers at both national and states levels, and the establishment of effective coordination structures at national and states levels.

According to him, the Malaria Household Survey conducted in 2010 in 9 states of Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna, Anambra, Delta, Akwa Ibom and Rivers revealed an increase in the percentage of households with at least one insecticide treated net (ITN) from 2.2 per cent to 88 per cent.

"There is also an increase in the percentage of children under 5 years of age who slept under nets the night preceding the survey from 3 per cent to 44.6 per cent," he added.

[Byline: Muda Oyeniran]

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[The data from Nigeria presented in the World Malaria Report can be found at http://www.who.int/malaria/publications ... nga_en.pdf. The reported data are very incomplete, but there is no reason to dispute the fact emphasized above that malaria control is less than satisfactory. Counterfeit drugs are also a problem and contribute to treatment failure and development of resistance. - Mod.EP

A HealthMap/ProMED-mail map can be accessed at: http://healthmap.org/r/1qGF.]

MALARIA, ARTEMISININ RESISTANCE - EAST AFRICA
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Date: Sat 12 May 2012
Source: The East African [edited]
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/AC ... index.html


ACTs [artemisinin-based combination therapies]-resistant malaria comes to East Africa
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A strain of the malaria parasite _Plasmodium falciparum_ that is resistant to artemisinin, one of the most powerful anti-malarial drugs, has been found in East Africa. The strain tested positive in blood samples from foreigners who had travelled in Kenya and Tanzania and 9 other African countries. This particular strain had been found at the border of Thailand and Myanmar and had been predicted to be spreading to India and then Africa as resistance to other antimalarial drugs has done before.

The results, according to the researchers from St George's, University of London, indicate that either the strain has spread to East Africa or the other African countries, or the local parasite has developed resistance. Although malaria control efforts have been scaled up in the region, the researchers say their findings are a further warning that the best weapons against malaria could be rendered obsolete.

Sanjeev Krishna, the study lead researcher and professor at St George's, University of London, said resistance in parasite samples were taken from 11 of the 28 malaria-infected patients from East Africa and the other African countries. On average, artemether's effectiveness was reduced by half. Each parasite was found to have the same genetic mutations, said Dr Krishna.

The artemisinin group of drugs is the most effective and widely used treatments for malaria. The drugs in this group are most powerful and less likely to be resisted by the malaria parasite when used with other drugs as artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs).

The patients were infected by malaria parasite-carrying mosquitoes while travelling to East Africa and the other 9 sub-Saharan African countries, home to 90 percent of the one million people killed worldwide each year by malaria.

The researchers then later tested samples from patients infected with the _Plasmodium falciparum_ parasite and the parasites were assessed for their sensitivity to 4 artemisinins: artemisinin itself, artemether, dihydroartemisinin, and artesunate.

The results showed that 11 parasites showing artemether resistance had the same genetic mutations in an internal system called the calcium pump (this is used to transport calcium, crucial for the parasite to function). We already suspected that the calcium pump, which we first showed was a target for artemisinins to work on in 2003, had the potential to develop artemisinin resistance. But this had been difficult to confirm until now, said Dr Krishna.

Artemether and ACTs are still very effective, but this study confirms our fears of how the parasite is mutating to develop resistance. Drug resistance could eventually become a devastating problem in Africa and not just in Southeast Asia where most of the world is watching for resistance.

Dr Krishna noted that the effectiveness of the other artemisinins was not significantly affected by the mutations. This may be because they were able to work on other transport systems in the parasite, compensating for the effects of resistance mutations in the calcium pump.

"At the moment, we do not know if the other artemisinins will follow suit, but given the shared chemistry they have with artemether it is tempting to think that they would, he added. The scientists argued that the resistance could be a result of the increasing use of ACTs, 300 million doses of which were dispensed worldwide in 2011.

Greater use could offer the parasites more opportunities to develop genetic mutations that provide resistance. They say this could lead to a repeat of how the parasite developed resistance to pre-artemisinin drugs such as chloroquine. Incorrect use of anti-malarials, such as not completing the treatment course or taking substandard drugs, could aid this process.

[Byline: Christabel Ligami]

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Mary Marshall

[The article is based on the study published in the Malaria Journal, 27 Apr 2012: Pillai DR, Lau R, Khairnar K, et al: Artemether resistance in vitro is linked to mutations in PfATP6 that also interact with mutations in PfMDR1 in travellers returning with _Plasmodium falciparum_ infections. Malaria J 2012; 11(1):131 doi:10.1186/1475-2875-11-131; available at http://www.malariajournal.com/content/p ... 11-131.pdf.

It is not surprising that resistance to artemisinins should develop in Africa. Artemisinins are supposed to be used in combination with other drugs like artemether/lumefantrine or dihydroartemisinin/piperaquine so called artemisinin combination therapy, ACT, but monotherapy is widely available in Africa.

Doses are sold individually so many (most?) patients receive an inferior total dose. Furthermore fake drugs are common further adding to the problem of underdosing and selecting parasites with reduced susceptibility.

When chloroquine resistance surfaced in Africa in the beginning of the 1980s, it swept the continent within a decade. The underdosing from taking too few doses and counterfeit drugs played a major role.

The report underlines that adequate treatment probably needs free anti-malaria treatment with ACTs of proven quality, thus removing the economic incentive to sell individual doses and not entire treatments, fake, and substandard drugs. - Mod.EP

A HealthMap/ProMED-mail map can be accessed at: http://healthmap.org/r/1jzc.]

Arznei-Schlamperei schadet Kampf gegen Malaria

Wenige Medikamente helfen gegen Malaria - umso dramatischer ist es, wenn diese Mittel gefälscht oder in falscher Dosierung auf den Markt kommen. Studien zeigen das Ausmaß der Medikamenten-Schlamperei. Forscher sehen dies als ernste Gefahr im Kampf gegen die Tropenkrankheit.
http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/medi ... 34224.html

Gruß
Götz

Impfungen gegen Malaria könnten diese tödliche Infektionskrankheit noch gefährlicher machen. Denn eine in vielen Impfstoffkandidaten enthaltene Substanz fördert offenbar die Bildung noch aggressiverer Erreger. Darauf deutet ein Versuch US-amerikanischer Forscher mit Mäusen hin. Steckten sich ungeimpfte Mäuse bei geimpften Artgenossen mit dem Malaria-Erreger Plasmodium chabaudi an, erkrankten sie deutlich schwerer als durch den ursprünglichen Parasitenstamm.

Malaria-Impfstoff macht Erreger noch aggressiver
01.08.2012 - scinexx


Gruß
Birgitt

Um tödliche Infektionskrankheiten in Schach zu halten, sind Wissenschaftler gefordert, in ihren Labors ständig neue Ansätze zu entwickeln. Jetzt haben Forscher vorgeschlagen, mit genetisch veränderten Bakterien gegen den Malariaerreger vorzugehen. Wie praktikabel ist diese Strategie?

Alte Feinde, neue Waffen
06.08.2012 - spektrum

Gruß
Birgitt

Je häufiger und schädlicher ein Parasit, desto größere Vorteile haben seine Wirte durch zufällig entstandene Mutationen, die sie dann vor dem Schmarotzer schützen – und umso schneller setzen sich diese Mutationen in der Wirtspopulation auch durch, ungeachtet eventuell mit ihr einhergehender Nachteile. Ein bekanntes Beispiel ist die Sichelzellenanämie im afrikanischen Verbreitungsgebiet des Malariaerregers Plasmodium falciparum: Sie verhindert die Vermehrung des Erregers in den Blutkörperchen. Aber auch andernorts finden sich Mutationen, die offensichtlich durch jahrtausendelange unliebsame Erfahrungen der Menschheit mit Malariaparasiten erklärt werden können [...] Das vielköpfige Forscherteam um Ivo Mueller vom Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research hatte sich dafür interessiert, warum in Südostasien eine bestimmten Erbkrankheit so auffällig häufig ist [...] Dies könnte daran liegen, vermuteten Foscher schon seit Längerem, dass die Mutation gegen Malaria schützt: Die Genveränderung ist nur dort häufig, wo auch Malariaerreger wüten.

Asiatische Mutation gegen 'milde' Malaria
04.08.2012 - spektrum

Gruß
Birgitt