How WEHI Scientists Are Helping Defeat Malaria: From Fundamental Discovery to New Treatments
How WEHI Scientists Are Helping Defeat Malaria: From Fundamental Discovery to New Treatments Why Malaria Still Matters Malaria has been one of humanity's deadliest infectious diseases for thousands of years. Although remarkable progress has been made over the past two decades, the disease still causes hundreds of thousands of deaths every year, with young children in sub-Saharan Africa carrying the greatest burden. Drug-resistant parasites, insecticide-resistant mosquitoes, and the parasite's remarkably complex life cycle continue to challenge scientists around the world. These challenges mean that new medicines cannot rely on improving existing drugs alone. Scientists must also uncover entirely new biological vulnerabilities within the parasite itself. For decades, researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) in Melbourne have contributed to this global effort by asking one fundamental question: How does the malaria parasite survive ins...