Researchers at the Kenya Medical Research Institute have identified a bacterial derivative that kills Plasmodium falciparum — the parasite responsible for the deadliest form of malaria — with what they describe as highly effective results. The breakthrough, led by Kenyan scientists working alongside international health partners, set the stage for human trials of new antimalarial drugs within a few years of the 2019 C.E. announcement.
At a glance
- Malaria parasite: Kenyan scientists found a derivative of bacteria — the same family behind treatments for scabies and river blindness — is highly effective at killing Plasmodium falciparum, with early research focused on pregnant women and children as the most vulnerable groups.
- Ivermectin trials: Earlier trials in Burkina Faso showed that Ivermectin, a drug already used for parasitic diseases, reduced malaria transmission by making the blood of treated people lethal to mosquitoes — and could cut child malaria episodes by up to 20% in high-risk areas, according to Yale School of Public Health research.
- Drug resistance: WHO-confirmed cases of resistance to existing antimalarial drugs in Thailand, Cambodia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are driving urgency, with scientists and clinicians calling a new line of treatment a matter of necessity.
Why this research matters
Malaria kills hundreds of thousands of people every year. The vast majority of deaths are in sub-Saharan Africa, and children under five bear the heaviest burden. Despite decades of progress, the disease remains one of the world’s most persistent killers — and the tools used to fight it are becoming less reliable.
Drug resistance is the core problem. The WHO and several international health agencies have confirmed resistance to existing antimalarial drugs in parts of Southeast Asia and Africa. In Kenya alone, malaria cases rose from around 16,000 in 2016 C.E. to roughly 18,757 the following year, according to the country’s health ministry. Experts warn the climate crisis could push those numbers higher still.
“Resistance is always a problem and the parasite always finds a way to get away with it,” said Dr. Simon Kariuki, head of malaria research programmes at KEMRI. “That is why a new line of treatment is a must. It has to be made available soon.”
From river blindness to malaria
The new approach builds on a surprising finding. Ivermectin — a drug long used to treat parasitic diseases like river blindness and elephantiasis — can do more than treat the patient who takes it. Trials in Burkina Faso found that people treated repeatedly with Ivermectin had blood that became lethal to mosquitoes that fed on them. The drug was also found to kill Plasmodium falciparum inside mosquitoes that had fed on treated humans.
That discovery opened a new line of inquiry. If a derivative of the same bacteria could be formulated into a new drug, it might attack malaria through a mechanism the parasite has not yet learned to resist. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to carry out human trials of new drugs derived from the bacteria, following extensive laboratory research.
“We have discovered [that the derivative of the] bacterium is highly effective in killing Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malaria, but our research is more focused on pregnant women and children as they are more vulnerable,” Kariuki said. “We are getting very motivating leads.”
This research sits within a broader wave of public health wins against infectious disease — cases where science, persistence, and global cooperation have gradually shifted what once seemed like impossible odds.
The role of local scientists
One detail worth highlighting: this research is being led by scientists in Kenya, at a Kenyan institution, in collaboration with international partners. That matters because African scientists and African research infrastructure are too often positioned as recipients of knowledge developed elsewhere. Here, KEMRI is originating the work.
The focus on pregnant women and children reflects both the epidemiology of malaria and the communities most in need of new options. Existing treatments carry risks for these groups, and resistance narrows the options further. Research designed around their needs from the start — rather than adapted afterward — is a meaningful difference in approach.
What comes next
Human trials are the critical next step, and they take time. The safety standards required for trials involving pregnant women and children are — appropriately — high, and the path from promising lab results to an approved drug involves many more stages of testing. Dr. Kariuki was candid about the unknowns: “We need more answers on Ivermectin. We need new malaria drugs as soon as possible … and we have to treat the situation as urgent.”
The current best-performing vaccine against malaria, RTS,S, was introduced in a WHO-recommended pilot scheme in 2019 C.E. In trials it prevented approximately 39% of malaria cases in children aged five to 17 months — a significant achievement, but far from complete protection. A drug that could reduce transmission by making treated people’s blood lethal to mosquitoes would complement vaccination rather than replace it.
A pharmacist independent of the study, Dr. Evans Murage of Nairobi, pointed to another challenge: antimalarial drugs are frequently sold over the counter without a confirmed diagnosis, which accelerates resistance. Developing new drugs without addressing that pattern would simply extend the same cycle. Regulatory and behavioral change will need to accompany any new treatment if it is to hold its effectiveness over time.
Still, the science here represents a genuine shift: a new mechanism, led by African researchers, targeting a disease the world has too long treated as inevitable.
Read more
For more on this story, see: The Guardian
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Lab-grown blood cells used in human transfusion trial
- WHO ends the COVID-19 global health emergency
- The Good News for Humankind archive on global health
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