Malaria in the post-genomics era: light at the end of the tunnel or just another train?
- 1Malaria Biology Laboratory, Australian Centre for International and Tropical Health and Nutrition, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Herston, Queensland, Australia
- 2Clinical Tropical Medicine Laboratory, Australian Centre for International and Tropical Health and Nutrition, Queensland Institute of Medical Research
- 3Malaria and Scabies Laboratory, Australian Centre for International and Tropical Health and Nutrition, Queensland Institute of Medical Research
- Correspondence to: Dr D Gardiner Queensland Institute of Medical Research, 300 Herston Road, Herston 4006, Queensland, Australia; donGqimr.edu.au
- Received 3 November 2004
- Accepted 14 December 2004
Abstract
Malaria remains the third leading cause of death attributable to an infectious disease worldwide, with an estimated death toll of over 2 million per year, predominately in sub-Saharan Africa. The first serious attempt to eradicate this disease was unsuccessful, and 50 years later in 1998 a second programme coined “roll back malaria” was started. While this programme is at present unlikely to reach its stated aims, the completion of the genome sequencing projects on the human host, the mosquito vector, and the malaria parasite offers new hope. It is probable that the burden of disease caused by the most malignant form of the parasite Plasmodium falciparum can be, if not eliminated, then effectively suppressed within a generation through new and novel treatments aimed at all three arms of malaria control.
Footnotes
-
Funding: this work was supported by Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (Grant Nos. 137211 and 290208), and by a generous donation from Mark Nicholson, Alice Hill and the Tudor Foundation.
-
Competing interests: none declared.
