The Hindu : To halt the malarial parasite

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 27, 2004

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International

To halt the malarial parasite

LONDON, MARCH 26. European scientists have identified a way to stop malaria in its tracks. Instead of preventing the malaria parasite from infecting humans, they could instead stop it from infecting the mosquito that spreads the lethal disease. A team from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, report in Science that they have homed in on four mosquito proteins that affect the ability of the malaria parasite to survive in its host.

The mosquito picks up the parasite by feeding on an infected human. After three weeks in the mosquito's gut, the parasite moves to its salivary glands. The next time the mosquito drinks blood, the parasite infects a new victim. But researchers have been puzzled because some species transmit malaria while some do not. Research has delivered the answer: two of the newly-identified proteins, TEP1 and LRIM1, kill the parasite in the mosquito's gut.

Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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