"It's a very intricate and chemically strong interaction that was not easily understood before," Tolia said.

"We have had hints that other forms of malaria, including the African strain, may be binding in a similar fashion to host cells, but this is one of the first definitive proofs of this kind of attack," he added.

Tolia suggested that blocking any of the proteins with drugs or vaccines will stop the infectious process.

"For example, some people have a mutation that eliminates the protein on red blood cell surfaces that P. vivax binds to, and they tend to be resistant to the parasite," he added.

The parasite protein is very large, and human antibodies bind to it at many different points along its length.

The researchers observed that the ones that are most effective so far are the antibodies that bind to the protein at the region highlighted by the new findings," the study said.

According to the world health organisations (WHO), there were more than 200 million malaria cases in 2012.

India records between 30,014 and 48,660 malaria deaths per year.

The deadliest form of malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, is most prevalent in Africa. But P. vivax can't be ignored especially in India.
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