Malaria Genome Project essays

Malaria Genome Project essays The Malaria genome project, brings new hope Malaria is one of the worlds most serious infectious diseases. According to the World Health Organization, it kills 2.5 million people and infects 500 million each year worldwide. Malaria occurs in 100 countries, placing 40% of the worlds population at risk. About 90% of cases are in tropical regions of Africa. About 95% of deaths are Africans under the age 5. The most common form of malaria is the product of a nefarious partnership between the Anopheles Gambia mosquito and the Plasmodium Falciparum parasite. Mosquitoes pick up the parasite by feeding on an infected human host. The parasite lives in the mosquitos gut until the mosquito bites another human. Malaria is currently reoccurring in many countries where it had been under control for decades. Anti-malarial drugs have lost much of their effectiveness. Plasmodium has evolved resistance to several drugs in many areas, therefore, necessitating the use of a combination of drugs. Pesticides used to control Plasmodiums vector, the mosquito, are also losing their effectiveness. Mosquitoes are evolving resistance to many pesticides. Therefore, scientists in a project called, The Malaria Genome project, which sequences the genome of Plasmodium Falciparum, are currently testing new anti-malaria drugs and several possible vaccines against malaria. A genome is the genetic instruction manual for any organism. An international team of scientists from the Malaria Genome Project has achieved a breakthrough that is expected to lead to the prevention and treatment of one of the worlds most serious infectious disease. These scientists report they have sequenced the genomes of both the parasite responsible for infections in humans and of the mosquito that carries the parasite. Together, these two genome maps, along with the map of the human g ...