Malaria is still a major problem in many parts of the world. Accurate diagnosis, crucial in disease control, currently relies on the microscopic detection of parasites in blood samples. This technique is invasive, increases risk of blood-borne disease transmission, and is uncomfortable for the patient. Non-invasive approaches to detect antibodies against malaria, malarial antigens, and malarial...

A 4-year-old boy from the United States had been staying in Indonesia for five months when he presented with fever, severe lethargy, progressive weight loss, and abdominal distension. He was first diagnosed with Plasmodium vivax infection in Indonesia and received treatment with chloroquine. However, his condition continued to deteriorate and he required erythrocyte transfusion for severe anemi...

The human malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum is one of the world's most devastating pathogen. Its capability to regulate its genes under various stages of its life cycle as well as under unfavourable environmental conditions has led to the development of vaccine resistant strains. Similarly, under drug pressure it develops mutations in the target genes. These mutations confer mid and high-...

Integration of organism-wide protein interactome data with information on expression of genes, cellular localization of proteins and their functions has proved extremely useful in developing biologically intuitive interaction networks. This chapter highlights the dynamics in protein interaction network across different stages in the lifecycle of Plasmodium falciparum, a malarial parasite, and t...

Plasmodium falciparum is the protozoan parasite responsible for the majority of life-threatening cases of human malaria, causing more than one million deaths a year. The global emergence of drug-resistant malarial parasites necessitates identification and characterization of novel drug targets. At present, alpha-carbonic anhydrase (CA) genes are identified in limited numbers of parasites in bot...

Eighteen hybridoma cell lines were used to study species-specific, stage-specific, and serological cross-reactive antigens of the rodent malarial parasite, Plasmodium yoelii. Specificity and location of plasmodial antigens were determined by indirect fluorescent-antibody analysis. Results showed that a minimum of 12 distinct plasmodial antigens could be distinguished by the 18 hybridomas. Antig...

A computer simulation study on the possibility of using photoacoustic (PA) technique to differentiate intraerythrocytic stages of malarial parasite is reported. This parasite during its development substantially converts hemoglobin into hemozoin. This conversion is expected to alter the cellular absorption leading to changes in the PA emission of a red blood cell (RBC) at certain incident optic...

The value of protozoa in investigations of nucleocytoplasmic relationships has long been appreciated, as indicated by reviews (1, 3, 7) of the extensive literature on this subject. Though the malarial parasite apparently has not previously been employed in such studies, we have found it to be a potentially useful organism in this regard. The elaborate differentiation that the parasite undergoes...