The world now has a potent, new weapon against malaria — one that can wipe out the parasite from a person’s body with a single dose.
But before many people around the world can use it, scientists have to overcome a big obstacle.
On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a drug to cure a type of malaria that’s been hard to stop. Called Plasmodium vivax, the parasite can hide out in a person’s liver for months and cause multiple rounds of malaria — even after being treated. Some people can have more than a dozen lapses.
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