A professor of Cellular and Molecular Parasitology, Roseangela Nwuba, has identified persistence, and good intelligence information as ways to eradicate the malaria parasite in society.
The don, made this known at the third inaugural lecture of the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo State, titled, ‘Beating parasites at their game.”
She added that beating the malaria parasites at their game should not be a mirage, saying with persistent efforts from the scientists and researchers, success would be achieved.
Nwuba said, “Vaccines have been very effective in our effort to beat viruses and bacteria at their game, but I might say, it gets more complicated when it comes to parasites. The malaria parasite develops in both humans and mosquitoes and has a larger surface area and genetic complexity.
“This means that each infection presents thousands of antigens (proteins) to the human immune system. They have so much mastered the art of camouflage changing through several developmental stages while in the human hosts, thereby presenting different antigens at different stages of their life cycle.
“Our best chance of beating them is to understand which of these antigens can be successfully targeted for use in vaccine development. I can assure you, that this has been an uphill task for those of us working in this field of research, more especially in Africa.
In conclusion of the lecture, the professor stated that, in the war against the disease and attempt to beat the parasite at its own game, there was a need to develop a winning strategy.
“We need good counsel and advice- information from our scientific researchers to develop the winning strategy. We should therefore not stop in the search for scientific understanding of these small but mighty parasitic organisms,” she said.