Falciparum

The report warns that the parasite Plasmodium falciparum — which causes the most lethal form of human malaria — is becoming resistant to the first-choice drug, DHA-piperaquine, in parts of Southeast Asia, with patients seeing a failure rate of 50 percent or more.

The report says urgent action is now needed to eliminate falciparum malaria from the region — otherwise the resistant strains of the parasite could further spread to other parts of Asia and Africa, potentially causing global health emergency.

This week, scientists at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute announced that they have identified a sugar in mosquitoes that the malaria-causing parasite [Plasmodium falciparum] needs. The sugar is essential for the parasite's movement within the midgut section of the mosquito's body.

There are four types of malaria parasite that typically infect people. The most common and deadly is Plasmodium falciparum, which goes through a number of life-cycle stages during which the parasite evolves into a different form.

Researchers reporting in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases found that a lineage of the P. falciparum parasite, which causes the most dangerous form of malaria, is now becoming resistant to the most effective malaria drug, and the resistance is spreading.

Researchers at the Center for Infectious Disease Research at the University of Washington in Seattle, in conjunction with the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center, have developed a vaccine that uses the entire malaria-causing parasite — called P. falciparum — to stimulate a protective immune response.