A high-throughput assay for the identification of drugs against late-stage Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes

Recent success in the global reduction campaign against malaria has resulted in the possibility that it may be feasible to drastically reduce or even eradicate malaria even without the introduction of a vaccine. However, while there has been significant effort to design the next generation of antimalarial drugs, one area that is underrepresented in the current antimalarial pharmacopeia is that of transmission blocking drugs directed at late-stage gametocytes. Here we describe the development of a robust and simple assay that is amenable to a high throughput format for the discovery of new antigametocyte drugs.