A team of scientists from the University of Edinburgh has now discovered how the parasite which is the cause of malaria is capable of resisting treatment with a leading drug.

Researchers have also pointed out a gene which enables the parasite which causes the infection to resist treatment with the plant-based remedy artemisinin.

In most countries where the parasite has developed resistance to previously effective common treatments like chloroquine, artemisinin stays the only available effective treatment against the illness.

In a revelation yesterday by Scottish scientists they declared achieving a vital breakthrough in the struggle against killer malaria.

Dr Paul Hunt, of Edinburgh University, said: “This new knowledge may eventually enable the design of more effective drugs.”

“This knowledge from rodent malaria parasites opens up new directions that will allow this gene to be investigated in human malaria,” said Dr Paul Hunt, from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Biological Sciences.

Scientists used the upcoming technology to scan through the genetic fingerprint of drug resistant parasites which are usually carried and transferred by mosquitoes which infect rats and mice.