Good news on Malaria

I quote from Science magazine:

 Outside Africa, Plasmodium vivax is the dominant species of malaria parasite causing between 20 and 50% of the annual ∼515 million malaria cases globally. P. vivax differs from the deadly P. falciparum in that it develops “sleeping stages,” called hypnozoites, in the liver that can give rise to reappearances of parasites in the blood, months or even years after an infected mosquito has made the inoculating bite. The chronic, long-lasting nature of P. vivax infections has a substantial impact on an infected individual's health and economic well-being. Meister et al. (p. 1372, published online 17 November; see the cover) describe a systematic approach using an automated microscopy assay for identifying antimalarial drugs capable of killing liver-stage parasites. A series of orally available imidazolopiperazine compounds were able to prevent malaria parasites from developing within liver cells with a single 15-milligrams-per-kilogram oral dose.

Vivax malaria has been the most difficult to stamp out because the eradication programs can assume success and be dismantled while the hypnozoites slumber in the cells of some infected individuals. When they reappear, they not only sicken the person carrying them, but can be a source of infections for others restarting epidemics. If there will be an effective means of preventing this hibernation, it should be possible to eradicate Plasmodium vivax.  Of course it is a long way from a scientific result to a successful public health campaign.