Examining the role of K13 in artemisinin-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria

Despite the concerted efforts of researchers, policy makers and public health workers worldwide, malaria persists as a significant disease threat for nearly half the world’s population. Recent advances in vector control measures, diagnostics and antimalarial drug therapies have contributed greatly to reducing the incidence of clinical disease, and by extension, the number of deaths attributable to malaria in the past two decades; however, the latter remains high—over 400,000 people die each year from malaria, the vast majority of these being children under the age of five. Our ability to rapidly and effectively treat malaria has been a cornerstone of efforts to control and eradicate this devastating disease. Nonetheless, the constant evolution and spread of drug-resistant forms of the Plasmodium parasites that cause malaria—particularly the most virulent of these, Plasmodium falciparum—have historically greatly hindered these efforts, compromising the efficacy of every previous first-line treatment. Today, treatment of P. falciparum malaria relies on artemisinin derivatives, an exquisitely potent and fast-acting class of antimalarials that are deployed ubiquitously in artemisinin-b