Malaria news you may have missed in 2022, including positive vaccine data

Malaria cases and deaths stabilized in 2021 after increasing in 2020 as the mosquito-borne disease took a back seat to COVID-19 and an exploding pandemic.

There was other welcome malaria news in 2022, including more positive data on a vaccine in late-stage development, but also concerning signs that an emerging vector appears to be causing dry-season outbreaks in Africa.

Below are some stories related to malaria that you may have missed in 2022.

Malaria cases remained relatively stable after sharp increase at start of COVID-19 pandemic

After disruptions to services at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, malaria cases and deaths spike significantly from the year before. WHO reports in December 2022, however, that rates of both had stabilized over the course of 2021. Read more.

Benefits of treated malaria bed nets persist into adulthood, 22-year study finds

With a moderate level of community use of insecticide-treated bed nets, researchers found that child malaria infections and deaths can be prevented into adulthood. Read more.

Higher dose of primaquine prevents relapse of P. vivax malaria, study finds

Plasmodium virax is difficult to treat because dormant parasite forms often remain in the liver after recovery. Higher doses of primaquine were found to prevent relapses in a study in the western Brazilian Amazon during the 2018 malaria season amid a high rate of infection. Read more.

Review of artemisinin derivatives: an artful approach to malaria treatment

Artemisinin, derived from the leaves of the Chinese sweet wormwood plant, and artemisinin-based combination treatments have become the first-line options for uncomplicated malaria and severe malaria. Read more.

Malaria vaccine continues to show progress

Children who received a booster shot of the R21/Matrix-M three-dose vaccine 1 year after the initial primary series maintained WHO’s goal of a 75% effective vaccine. This follows WHO’s recommendation of the RTS,S vaccine in 2021. Read more.

Monoclonal antibody safely prevents malaria infection in adults

According to findings from a phase 2 trial of during the 6-month malaria season in Mali, the monoclonal antibody CIS43LS prevents high-level transmission of the disease in healthy adults. It is one of two monoclonal antibodies researchers in the trial are developing. Read more.

Invasive Asian mosquito ‘can survive anywhere,’ could alter malaria landscape in Africa

The Anopheles stephensi mosquito, thought to have reached Africa through shipping hubs in Djibouti, was linked to a 2,400-case outbreak earlier this in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, during its dry season — considered unprecedented because outbreak generally occur during rainy seasons. Read more.

Report details six cases of nosocomial malaria in French hospitals

Accidental exposure in a hospital to blood from a patient with malaria is rare, researcher Romain Coppee, PhD, told Healio in November, but an analysis found six cases in French hospitals between 2007 and 2021, including four during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more.