Smelly Biomarkers Accurately Predict Malaria Infections

With close to 50% of the world’s population living in areas endemic to malaria and almost half a million malaria deaths per year, identifying asymptomatic carriers of this parasitic infection is a critical factor for lowering disease transmission rates. However, standard tests often miss identifying carriers, especially when parasitemias are low. Moreover, while DNA tests for identifying the malaria parasite usually show infection, the test is not very rapid and often difficult to utilize