Malaria affects millions of people in the developing world each year, and fighting the disease can be difficult, because the mosquito-borne parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which causes the deadliest form of malaria, has developed resistance to every anti-malaria drug. Molecular parasitologist Stephen Rich at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is leading a research team that has found a … [Read more...]
Traditional Methods for Malaria Treatment and Prevention
QUESTION What are the traditional methods on treating and preventing malaria? ANSWER Many different cultures have had their own traditional ways of treating malaria. Perhaps the two best known come from the native tribes in the Western Amazon basin and the ancient Chinese. Tribes in the Amazon used the bark of a shrub called Cinchona to treat fevers and shivering; Spanish priests in … [Read more...]
New Treatment for Malaria
QUESTION New treatment for malaria? ANSWER The most recently developed type of treatment for malaria actually has very ancient origins. The herb wormwood (Artemisia annua) has been used in ancient Chinese medicine for hundreds, even thousands, of years to cure certain fevers. In the 1970s, a Chinese research program intensively sought new medications against malaria, as part of their … [Read more...]
In which country did malaria start?
QUESTION: In which country did malaria start? ANSWER: That's an interesting question! In terms of the evolution of the disease, the different types of malaria probably evolved in different places; it is hypothesised for example, that P. falciparum evolved from a related strain of malaria that is found in gorillas in central Africa, so the human form also probably originates from that … [Read more...]