Australian scientists snap malaria bug

Australian scientists have found a way to capture the image of the tiny malaria parasite as it invades a human red blood cell.

The high definition images reveal what previously appeared as only as "two blurry dots", offering fresh insights into malaria's behaviour and how best to combat it.

Up to 10 per cent of the world's population contract malaria every year and a million people, mostly pregnant women and children, die as a result of the parasite transmitted by infected mosquitoes.

Lead research Dr Jake Baum, from the Melbourne-based Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI), used a mix of conventional and super resolution microscopy, a technology new to Australia and based at the University of Technology Sydney, to snap the images.

It builds on the earlier work of Dr Baum's team, which last year found a way to isolate the invasion which occurs at nanometric scale and "in the blink of an eye".

"This is not the first study to see invasion but it is definitely the first study to be able to see it in all its glory," Dr Baum said told AAP.

"We can now resolve those two blurry dots into the kind of beautiful structure the parasite forms as it goes in.

"It provides us with a platform to understand how the parasite works and to understand how an antibody against malaria, which is a goal for vaccine development, could be achieved."

Being able to capture such images enables scientists to record, in exacting detail, the way the parasite reacts to existing and experimental anti-malaria drugs.

Dr Baum said the images show the parasite carrying a never-before-seen "window" that it attaches to a red blood cell and then injects itself through.

Once inside the cell, the parasite multiplies rapidly, creating dozens of new versions which are spat back into the bloodstream of the now feverish infected person.

It is thought if a way could be found to stop this initial invasion then a person's immune system would develop a way to kill the parasite and retain this protection through their lives.

"A golden goal of malaria researchers is the development of a vaccine that would protect you from disease but still allow you to develop an immune response," Dr Baum said.

"... An effective vaccine would have such immeasurable benefits for humanity.

"There are studies which have suggested African countries which have endemic malaria, their GDP is held back from being positive because of malaria and the millions of people out of the workforce because they are sick."

The research is published on Thursday in the journal Cell Host & Microbe.

Detailed animations showing the life cycle of the malaria parasite, both inside humans and mosquitoes, can be seen online at www.youtube.com/WEHImovies.