Top 5 stories for World Malaria Day 2015

Despite an overall decline in new cases, WHO data suggest that malaria claims more than half a million lives each year, with an estimated 278 million people in Africa living in households without an insecticide-treated bed net.

While three-quarters of malaria deaths occur in children aged younger than 5 years, only one-fifth of African children with the disease received effective treatment in 2013, and 15 million pregnant women did not receive any preventive drugs.

“We must recognize the urgent need to expand prevention measures, and quality-assured testing and treatment to reduce the human suffering caused by malaria,” Hiroki Nakatani, MD, PhD, WHO assistant director-general for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases, said in a press release.

In recognizing April 25 as World Malaria Day 2015, Infectious Disease News has compiled a list of the top stories covering the disease from the past year.

Global malaria cases, deaths declined since 2000

Worldwide cases of malaria and malaria-related deaths have greatly declined since 2000, according to data published in the World Malaria Report 2014.

Margaret Chan

“We can win the fight against malaria,” Margaret Chan, MD, director-general of WHO, said in a press release. “We have the right tools, and our defenses are working. But we still need to get those tools to a lot more people if we are to make these gains sustainable.” Read more.

P. knowlesi malaria cases increasing in Malaysia

Sixty-eight percent of malaria patients hospitalized in Malaysian Borneo in 2013 were infected by the once-rare primate malaria parasite Plasmodium knowlesi, according to research data presented at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

Balbir Singh, PhD, of the University of Malaysia, Sarawak, and colleagues performed an epidemiologic study of the disease. Along with a review of host identification and laboratory diagnosis, they also examined historical data and treatment records for P. knowlesi within the region, including eight published studies on severe and fatal cases. Read more.

Successes in malaria control lost in rural sub-Saharan Africa

Despite global trends showing an overall decline in malaria cases, disease prevalence in rural Uganda appears to be increasing — a serious problem that may be taking place in other rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa — according to the results of a 2-year surveillance study published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Grant Dorsey

“Our findings suggest that current efforts at controlling malaria may not be as effective as previously believed in high-transmission areas, where the disease is the biggest threat,” Grant Dorsey, MD, PhD, professor of infectious diseases at the University of California, San Francisco, said in a press release. “It’s important to tell the less happy story that we have not yet seen advances in more rural areas, including at least two sites in Uganda, where transmission has been historically high.” Read more.

Text message reminders improved malaria treatment adherence

Text message reminders improved patient adherence to malaria treatment regimens, according to data published in PLoS One.

Julia R.G. Raifman, MS, of Harvard School of Public Health, and colleagues enrolled 1,100 participants in Tamale, Ghana, who recently had received malaria treatment, into a text-messaging program. Treatment group participants either were sent periodic messages reminding them to take medication or the same message with an additional statement about completing the treatment. Self-reported completion of the artemisinin-based combination therapy regimen was the primary endpoint. Read more.

Combinations of vaccination, treated bed nets may alter malaria immunity

Use of mixed interventions against malaria, such as vaccination and treated bed nets, may lead to nonlinear responses that alter acquired protection against future disease, according to study findings in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“Malaria immunity is more complex than that generated by other pathogens that have successfully been controlled by vaccination in the past and is believed to provide protection only for 1 to 2 years,” study researcher Yael Artzy-Randrup, PhD, of the University of Michigan, and colleagues wrote. “Therefore, for vaccination programs to be effective, a mixture of tactics will be needed, including levels of vaccine coverage similar or higher to those achieved for measles.” Read more.