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New study on the risk of Plasmodium vivax parasitaemia after Plasmodium falciparum malaria

MORU NDM-CGHR

A new study quantifying the high risk of Plasmodium vivax parasitaemia after treatment of Plasmodium falciparum malaria aims to identify populations in which a policy of universal radical cure, combining artemisinin-based combination therapy with a hypnozoitocidal antimalarial drug, would be most beneficial.

Mother and child on a healthcare bed. The mother is being checked by a health care worker © Credit: Dominic Chavez, World Bank

Following treatment of P. falciparum malaria, there is a high risk of recurrent P. vivax parasitaemia. Rob Commons, Ric Price and colleagues show that these P. vivax infections could potentially be prevented with radical cure targeting both the blood and dormant liver stages of P. vivax. However, the benefits of this strategy are likely to vary considerably between geographical areas and would need to be coupled with appropriate G6PD testing.

The full story is available on the WWARN website

Read the paper in PLOS Medicine

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