Drug Resistant Malaria in Africa: Optimizing criteria and developing a rapid test for artemisinin resistance

• Project/Area Number: 24K20198
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 58020:Hygiene and public health-related: including laboratory approach
• Research Institution: Juntendo University
• Principal Investigator: バリカガラ ベテイ 順天堂大学, 大学院医学研究科, 助教 (70805895)
• Project Period (FY): 2024-04-01 – 2027-03-31
• Project Status: Granted (Fiscal Year 2024)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,680,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,080,000); Fiscal Year 2026: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000); Fiscal Year 2025: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000); Fiscal Year 2024: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000)
• Keywords: Artemisinin resistance / Reference-value / Molecular-markers

Outline of Research at the Start

95% of the world's three major infectious diseases, malaria, occur in Africa. I reported for the first time that resistance to first-line drug artemisinin has appeared in Africa (N Eng J Med, 2021, first author). Current artemisinin resistance cutoff is based on a study in Asia. However, unlike in Asia, people in Africa have a high level of acquired malaria-immunity, so some resistant parasites are eliminated by immunity.
Applying Asia cutoffs to Africa risks underestimating resistance. Therefore, a novel cutoff for Africa will be developed and used to develop reliable resistance gene markers.