OXFORD, England, Feb 26, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) -- A British-led study has
produced the first global malaria map in decades, showing reduced risk of the
deadly disease.
The map, produced by Oxford University in collaboration with the Kenyan Medical
Research Institute, shows about 35 percent of the world's population is at risk
of contracting malaria but many people are at a lower risk than previously
thought.
The Malaria Atlas Project found 2.37 billion people are at risk of contracting
malaria from Plasmodium faciparum, the most deadly malaria parasite for humans.
It is transmitted through the bites of infected Anopheles mosquitoes. Another 1
billion people live under a much lower risk of infection than was assumed under
previous maps.
That lower-than-expected risk area includes Central and South America, Asia and
parts of Africa -- the continent where malaria kills the vast majority of its
victims and where risk has historically been classified as universally high.
The research that was funded by the Wellcome Trust and included scientists at
the University of Florida's Emerging Pathogens Institute appears in the online
edition of the journal PLoS Medicine.
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Copyright 2008 by United Press International