New hope for blocking malaria transmission

World-first screening by scientists at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research has identified new potential treatments for blocking malaria transmission. The QIMR team, in conjunction with Griffith University, designed a technique to screen a large library of existing compounds, to see whether any had the potential to block malaria transmission from humans to the mosquito, breaking the cycle of the devastating disease, which kills up to a million people each year. Initial screening of 10,000 substances identified six strong “hits”, including some drugs already on the market. Head of QIMR’s Malaria Biology Laboratory, Associate Professor Don Gardiner, said it was an exciting result. “It was incredibly satisfying. It’s a significant step forward for work into more transmission blocking anti-malarial drugs,” Associate Professor Gardiner said. “The problem with the only existing drug for blocking transmission in malaria – Primaquine – is that it’s toxic in 25 per cent of affected populations. “We’re hopeful that of the six...