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Article: Waste by-product of malaria parasite's reproductive process linked to devastating fever.
- Article from:
- Asian News International
- Article date:
- August 21, 2009
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Byline: ANI
Washington, August 21 (ANI): Studying hemozoin - a crystal-like by-product released during reproduction among parasites from the Plasmodium family - may help understand why malaria leads to devastating inflammation and fever, according to a Canadian study.
Lead researcher Dr. Martin Olivier, of McGill University in Montreal, points out that, inside the human body, the malaria parasite infects red blood cells where it survives and reproduces by feeding on the cells' contents.
Eventually, says the researcher, the cells burst and release the parasites and hemozoin.
"Our results describe the mechanism by which the hemozoin ...