Their data confirm that it was the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, the same one that is spread by mosquitoes today and kills hundreds of thousands of people every year. This discovery predates previous studies' detection of the malaria parasite in central Italy by several centuries. They extracted, purified and and enriched the DNA to test for the parasite using modern malaria as a "fishing bait." Small molecules with magnetic beads acted as a way to "pull down" the low concentration of parasite DNA and found its signature. He also believes there is more work to be done based on what they learned from the malaria parasite DNA.

Source: CNN December 05, 2016 18:45 UTC