Malaria, Cholera, Parasites News

Malaria drug prices too high

Nearly a million people die from malaria each year because they cannot afford the most effective treatment and instead buy old drugs, researchers said.

Brave new world of health ideas

Chocolate as a malaria treatment? Cell phones to detect pneumonia? Who’d fund such outlandish research proposals? The likes of Bill Gates, no less, to the tune of $100 million.

Hope for malaria babies

One third of malaria cases in African infants could be avoided with a simple, safe, affordable tool.

New mozzie repellent promising

After searching for more than 50 years, scientists finally have discovered a number of new mosquito repellents that beat DEET, the gold standard for warding off mosquitoes.

Insect repellent bad for humans

One of the world's most common insect repellents acts on the central nervous system in the same way as some insecticides and nerve gases, according to a new study.

Malaria came from chimps

Malaria, which affects some 500 million people a year worldwide, was first transmitted to humans by chimpanzees, according to a US study.

Malaria vaccine enters human trials

Scientists have created a weakened strain of the malaria parasite to be used as a live vaccine against the disease, and it will be trialled in humans from early next year.

Bilharzia breakthrough hailed

An international team of scientists announced they had unravelled the genome of the parasitic worm that causes bilharzia, a disease that each year claims thousands of lives.

Mozzies bred at repellent factory

A Sri Lankan court threatened a mosquito repellent factory manager with jail for failing to destroy mosquito breeding areas on company premises to stop the spread of dengue fever.

Malaria resists some drugs

There's evidence that malaria in Cambodia may be resistant to front-line artemesinin drugs - and full-blown resistance would pose a serious worldwide health crisis, scientists say.