A professor of Cellular and Molecular Parasitology, Roseangela Nwuba, has identified persistence and good intelligence as ways to eradicate the malaria parasite from society.
Don, made this known at the 3rd Inaugural Lecture at Ondo State University of Medical Sciences entitled “Beating the Parasites at Their Game”.
He added that beating malaria parasites at their game should not be a mirage and said that with the persistent efforts of 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 could say it gets trickier when it comes to parasites. The malaria parasite develops in both humans and mosquitoes and has a greater surface area and genetic complexity.
“This means that each infection presents thousands of antigens (proteins) to the human immune system. They have both mastered the art of camouflage by changing through various stages of development while in human hosts, thus presenting different antigens at different stages of their life cycle.
“Our best chance of beating them is to understand which of these antigens may be a successful target for use in vaccine development. I can assure you that this has been an arduous task for those of us who work in this field of research, especially in Africa.
Concluding the lecture, the professor stated that in the war against disease and the attempt to beat the parasite at its own game, it was necessary to develop a winning strategy.
“We need good advice and advisory information from our research scientists to develop the winning strategy. Therefore, we must not stop in the search for a scientific understanding of these small but powerful parasitic organisms,” he said.
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