East Asia’s goal of eradicating malaria by 2030 has been bolstered with more than $1.3 million in new funding for research to develop and deploy a world-first diagnostic test.
Almost $1m of the funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), will be used to develop the first point-of-care rapid diagnostic test for the Plasmodium parasites which cause malaria. Further funding will assist in creation of a laboratory version of the test to be based in the Philippines, the site of recent malaria outbreaks in the East Asia region.
Malaria is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito, with more than 200 million cases (and 620,000 deaths) worldwide each year. The tests will pinpoint if an individual has been infected with the Plasmodium vivax parasite, and whether they are at risk of relapsing.
Ivo Mueller, Joint Division Head of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), a world expert in the biology, epidemiology and control of P. vivax malaria, said being able to predict the chance of relapse would be a breakthrough in control of the disease.
“Malaria reinfections are the leading cause of residual transmission that continue to challenge malaria eradication efforts,” he said. “Our novel test can show whether someone has had a P. vivax infection within the last nine months. This timing is critical as most people in tropical regions are expected to relapse within nine months of a previous blood-stage infection. Our test is the closest the scientific world has come to tracking and predicting these ‘hidden’ infections.”
A high-throughput laboratory version of the test would be used to confirm whether the asymptomatic underlying P. vivax infections are contributing to outbreaks, to detect areas with ongoing transmission, and to treat people with these dormant infections.
Chief Investigator Rhea Longley said this information is critical for outbreak containment. “These insights will enable us to get ahead of the parasite to predict where it may be silently hiding, who its next target is and when it is likely to attack,” she said.
Longley said the team hoped its findings could be used to fuel malaria eradication across East Asia.
JULIA GARDINER