Xinhua: Platelets found within blood are the human body’s first line of defence against malaria, a study announced on Wednesday. The study, published by the Menzies School of Health Research (MSHR) in Australia’s Northern Territory (NT), revealed that platelets attack and kill malaria parasites in the bloodstream.
Researchers from MSHR were assisted by collaborators from Australian National University (ANU) and from Malaysia and Indonesia.They found that the platelets attack by binding themselves to each of the malaria parasite species which are lethal to humans.”These are important findings and are the first direct evidence of protection by platelets in any human infectious disease,” Steven Kho, a Menzied PhD student who was the lead author of the study, said in a media release on Wednesday.