Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-06/babs-nrs061610.php
Public release date: 17-Jun-2010
Contact: Matt Goode
matt.goode@bbsrc.ac.uk
44-179-341-3299
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
New research shows malaria threat is as old as humanity
Findings could help inform new malaria control strategies
New research published today (17 June) by scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) shows that malaria is tens of thousands of years older than previously thought. An international team, led by researchers at Imperial College London, have found that the potentially deadly tropical disease evolved alongside anatomically modern humans and moved with our ancestors as they migrated out of Africa around 60-80,000 years ago. The research is published in the journal Current Biology.
The findings and the techniques in the study could be important in informing current control strategies aimed at reducing the prevalence of malaria. There are an estimated 230 million cases each year, causing between 1 and 3 million deaths, and around 1.4bn people are considered to be at risk of infection...
Contact
Dr Francois Balloux, MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling, Imperial College London
Tel: +41 21 601 25 69, email: fballoux@imperial.ac.uk
BBSRC External Relations
Matt Goode, Tel: 01793 413299, email: matt.goode@bbsrc.ac.uk
Nancy Mendoza, Tel: 01793 413355, email: nancy.mendoza@bbsrc.ac.uk
Notes to Editors
This research is published on 17 June 2010 in the journal Current Biology - Tanabe et al., Plasmodium falciparum Accompanied the Human Expansion out of Africa, Current Biology (2010), doi:10.1016/j.cub.2010.05.053
* 35 countries (30 in sub-Saharan Africa and 5 in Asia) account for 98% of global malaria deaths.
* 89% of the malaria deaths worldwide occur in Africa.
* Malaria is the 5th cause of death from infectious diseases worldwide (after respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS, diarrheal diseases, and tuberculosis).
* Malaria is the 2nd leading cause of death from infectious diseases in Africa, after HIV/AIDS.
* Among the malaria species that infect humans, Plasmodium vivax and P. ovale can develop dormant liver stages that can reactivate after symptomless intervals of up to 2 (P. vivax) to 4 years (P. ovale).
* After a single sporozoite (the parasite form inoculated by the female mosquito) of Plasmodium falciparum invades a liver cell, the parasite grows in 6 days and produces 30,000-40,000 daughter cells (merozoites), which are released into the blood when the liver cell ruptures. In the blood, after a single merozoite invades a red blood cell, the parasite grows in 48 hours and produces 8-24 daughter cells, which are released into the blood when the red blood cell ruptures.
All malaria information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/malaria.
Public release date: 17-Jun-2010
Contact: Matt Goode
matt.goode@bbsrc.ac.uk
44-179-341-3299
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
New research shows malaria threat is as old as humanity
Findings could help inform new malaria control strategies
New research published today (17 June) by scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) shows that malaria is tens of thousands of years older than previously thought. An international team, led by researchers at Imperial College London, have found that the potentially deadly tropical disease evolved alongside anatomically modern humans and moved with our ancestors as they migrated out of Africa around 60-80,000 years ago. The research is published in the journal Current Biology.
The findings and the techniques in the study could be important in informing current control strategies aimed at reducing the prevalence of malaria. There are an estimated 230 million cases each year, causing between 1 and 3 million deaths, and around 1.4bn people are considered to be at risk of infection...
Contact
Dr Francois Balloux, MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling, Imperial College London
Tel: +41 21 601 25 69, email: fballoux@imperial.ac.uk
BBSRC External Relations
Matt Goode, Tel: 01793 413299, email: matt.goode@bbsrc.ac.uk
Nancy Mendoza, Tel: 01793 413355, email: nancy.mendoza@bbsrc.ac.uk
Notes to Editors
This research is published on 17 June 2010 in the journal Current Biology - Tanabe et al., Plasmodium falciparum Accompanied the Human Expansion out of Africa, Current Biology (2010), doi:10.1016/j.cub.2010.05.053
* 35 countries (30 in sub-Saharan Africa and 5 in Asia) account for 98% of global malaria deaths.
* 89% of the malaria deaths worldwide occur in Africa.
* Malaria is the 5th cause of death from infectious diseases worldwide (after respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS, diarrheal diseases, and tuberculosis).
* Malaria is the 2nd leading cause of death from infectious diseases in Africa, after HIV/AIDS.
* Among the malaria species that infect humans, Plasmodium vivax and P. ovale can develop dormant liver stages that can reactivate after symptomless intervals of up to 2 (P. vivax) to 4 years (P. ovale).
* After a single sporozoite (the parasite form inoculated by the female mosquito) of Plasmodium falciparum invades a liver cell, the parasite grows in 6 days and produces 30,000-40,000 daughter cells (merozoites), which are released into the blood when the liver cell ruptures. In the blood, after a single merozoite invades a red blood cell, the parasite grows in 48 hours and produces 8-24 daughter cells, which are released into the blood when the red blood cell ruptures.
All malaria information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/malaria.