University of South Florida researchers identified a previously unknown vulnerability in Plasmodium vivax, the parasite that causes one form of malaria. The study focuses on the parasite’s ability to remain in the liver and later reactivate, and it was published in Immunity.
A vaccine target is not a finished vaccine, so the finding should be described as an early scientific advance. Its importance is that it addresses a difficult part of malaria: a parasite stage that can persist and contribute to later illness and transmission.