Scientists have identified novel antiplasmodial lead compounds for mass drug administration and vector control to eliminate malaria.

Lead compounds are chemical compounds that show promise as treatment for a disease and may lead to the development of a new drug.

Antiplasmodial lead compounds are those that counter parasites of the genus Plasmodium, which is the parasite that infects mosquitoes and causes malaria in people.

The study findings were published in Nature Communications on 11 January 2021, at a time when malaria incidence generally peaks after the holiday season.

MOSQUITO INFECTION EXPERIMENT CENTRE

Professor Lizette Koekemoer, co-director of the WRIM and the National Research Foundation SARChI Chair in Medical Entomology and Control, and an honorary member of the Centre for Emerging Zoonotic and Parasitic Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, co-authored the paper.

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