Image courtesy of Shutterstock
The study, published in Nature Genetics, provides a foundation for using genomic surveillance to guide effective strategies for malaria control and elimination. P. vivax is mainly found in Asia and South America, and 2.5 billion people are at risk of infection worldwide. This species of malaria parasite is notoriously difficult to work with and the new study has created one of the largest genomic data sets of this species to date, which is available to all researchers.