SCIENTISTS have now found a way to render "killer" malaria viruses impotent.
Researchers based in the Institute
of Molecular Medicine at Oxford
University and other research bodies
in the us have identified a family
of genes which are thought to be
responsible for people dying from the disease.
There are 4 types of malaria viruses,
but only I is fatal. This lethal malarial
parasite manipulates blood cells - both
making them sticky and stopping anti-bodies from destroying them. As a result
tfie infected blood cells stick to the
insides of the small blood vessels of
organs in the body, particularly the
brain. trhe patient goes into coma, and
eventu ally dies.
The researchers took patqsites from
infected patients and grew them in laboratories. By extracting DNA from the parasites, they were able to identify the
genes. Armed with this new information, the scieitists hope that it will now
be their turn to manipulate the parasite
and come up with some new methods of treatment.
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