Decoding DNA of malaria parasite

On August 5, scientists from India and the United States reported decoding the genes of the parasites that caused most of the malaria cases outside Africa , and found that the parasites This is extremely diverse, making it more difficult to destroy them.

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Red blood cells are infected with malaria-causing parasites.

In a study published in Nature Genetics, the team said they sequenced the genomes of four Plasmodium vivax strains, a parasite that infects 100 million people a year.

Previous research has shown that 10-20% of P. vivax parasite malaria cases occur in southern Sahara of Africa, which is heavily affected by P. falciparum , parasitic coincidence causes the majority of malaria deaths in the world.

Outside Africa, P. vivax parasites account for half of all malaria cases, mainly in the Middle East, Western Pacific and Central - South America. Both types of parasites are transmitted to humans by Anopheles mosquitoes.

Although P. vivax is much tougher than P. falciparum and can tolerate colder climates, little is known about P. vivax and less attention to decoding the gene of this parasite than P. falciparum.

With their research, the group said it had tripled the number of sequenced gene sequences of P. vivax, and observed a "huge genetic diversity" , proving the development of one type. Single vaccines against the different strains of P. vivax are even more difficult than P. falciparum.

In 2010, there were around 216 million malaria-infected people in the world and an estimated 655,000 people died, mainly in Africa, where a child died from a death every minute. this disease.