In the depths of Malaysian Borneo, scientists are investigating monkey malaria – a mosquito-borne parasitic threat that’s spilling out of the lush rainforest to infect humans. Malaysia has eliminated human malaria but, since 2011, more than 25,000 people in the region have contracted the simian parasite, which causes intense nausea, malaise, fever and sometimes death. Once rare in humans, cases jumped by 850 per cent between 2008 and 2021.

“It poses a real challenge for malaria elimination moving forward,” says Dr Fornace, an epidemiologist based at the National University of Singapore, pausing in a jungle glade. “It’s really a clear example of what can happen when a disease spills over [from animals] to humans.

“The question now is: how do we deal with zoonotic malaria?”

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