Had the scene been rural Accra some 50 years ago, children would have loved to gather by the fireside late in the night to listen to the “malaria story.”

This malaria story may not have all the ingredients of a good African folklore with its traditional beliefs and superstition, but there are lessons to be learnt from the malaria story just like any other African folklore.

Rebecca Kwei, one of Africa’s young generation had the rare opportunity of listening to Prof Don de Savigny of the Swiss Tropical Institute, as he shared the malaria story at the lobby of the plush new hotel in Accra, the Holiday Inn..

Medical experts have warned that malaria, with all its debilitating effects on the patient, can also make the body work contrary to itself, as well as destroy the red blood cells that help to supply all parts of the body with oxygen which makes us living beings.

MALARIA infection might cause children's immune systems to attack their own DNA, resulting in more severe health problems than in adults, a new discovery, by a team of scientists from Nigeria and the US has said.

The scientists tested blood samples of 21 Nigerian children from the Barkin Ladi Village Clinic, under the age of six, who were infected with plasmodium falciparum malaria and tested for the presence of different immune components such as cytokines signalling chemicals released by the immune system and antibodies.