Media Briefing/Press ConferenceFrom: Menzies School of Health Research
The elimination of malaria from the Asia Pacific within the decade will require the safe and effective radical cure of malaria, a new paper in Trends in Parasitology suggests.
The paper, Plasmodium vivax in the Era of the Shrinking P. falciparum Map, highlights the rising proportion of malaria due to Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax) and presents recommendations to address the key outstanding issues.
Effective prevention and treatment have led to the decrease in rates of malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum). However there is an increased risk of P. vivax after the treatment of P. falciparum in co-endemic regions, suggesting the potential benefit of universal radical cure to treat all parasites.
Since transmission of the parasite is driven largely by relapses from dormant liver stages, its timely elimination will require widespread access to radical cure, particularly in remote and vulnerable populations where the main burden of malaria exists.
Novel host and parasite diagnostics, single-dose tafenoquine and short-course primaquine regimens offer hope for more effective radical cure to eliminate the parasite.
Read the full article here: https://www.cell.com/trends/parasitology/fulltext/S1471-4922(20)30074-X
25 April 2020 marks the World Health Organisation's World Malaria Day, which highlights the need for continued investment and sustained political commitment for malaria prevention and control.