Pathogenesis of malaria

As the mortality rate of 20-30% for severe falciparum malaria under even the best clinical conditions testifies, access to anti-malarial drugs is not sufficient to prevent an appreciable mortality from this disease. Understanding the cause of death at a cellular level is essential if additional rational treatments are to be developed. Here, Ian Clark and Louis Schofield discuss recent work presented at the Molecular Approaches to Malaria conference, Lorne, Australia, 2-5 February 2000, that updates the cytokine-based concept of malarial disease.