Africans once protected against malaria face new risk

Monday, November 18, 2013

A common type of malaria that used to be powerless to infect certain groups of Africans is becoming more potent, putting tens of millions of people at risk, scientists said on November 15. Caused by a mosquito-borne parasite called Plasmodium vivax, the infection is rarely fatal but can lay dormant in the liver and cause chronic recurrences if left untreated.

“If this is on the move into continental Africa, it is going to complicate all the efforts of malaria elimination that have begun to make some progress there,” Peter Zimmerman, professor of international health, biology and genetics at the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, told AFP.

Source: Business Recorder (link opens in a new window)

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Health Care
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infectious diseases