As researchers work to eliminate malaria worldwide, new strategies are needed to find and treat individuals who have malaria, but show no signs of the disease. The prevalence of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic malaria can be as high as 35 percent in populations with malaria and these asymptomatic individuals can serve as a reservoir for spreading malaria even in areas where disease … [Read more...]
Chloroquine side-effects
QUESTION For about two years in the early '90s I indulged in self-prescription of chloroquine because then, I lived in a mosquito infested environment which made me suffer constant malarial attacks. Could this be why I now suffer from severe pains around my pelvis and down my thighs to one of my knées? I make this guess as a layman because recently, following a malarial attack, I took a … [Read more...]
Scientists Develop Method to Synthesize Artemisinin Inexpensively and in Large Quantities
In future it should be possible to produce the best anti-malaria drug, artemisinin, more economically and in sufficient volumes for all patients. The most effective anti-malaria drug can now be produced inexpensively and in large quantities. This means that it will be possible to provide medication for the 225 million malaria patients in developing countries at an affordable … [Read more...]
Counterfeit Anitmalarial Drugs Threaten Crisis in Africa
Hopes of at last controlling malaria in Africa could be dashed by the emergence of poor-quality and fraudulent antimalarial medicines, warn experts writing in Malaria Journal. Unless urgent action is taken both within Africa and internationally, they argue, millions of lives could be put at risk. … [Read more...]
Treatment of Malaria in India
QUESTION In India how to treat a child and adult suffering from malaria? ANSWER Chloroquine-resistant malaria has been observed in India and so the first line drug of choice should be an artemisinin-derivative in combination with another drug (this group of medications are more generally known as "artemisinin-based combination therapies" or ACTs). A common example of this is artemether in … [Read more...]
Researchers Introduce Technology to Manufacture Artemisinin in Tobacco Plants
Combating malaria is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals described in the United Nations Millennium Declaration signed by all UN members at the year 2000. A key intervention to control malaria is prompt and effective treatment with artemisinin-based combination therapies. Artemisinin is a natural compound from Artemisia annua (sweet wormwood) plants, but low-cost artemisinin-based drugs … [Read more...]
I am getting malaria every 6 months
QUESTION: I am getting malaria every six months, after taken chloroquine medicine tablets. Is this normal,when my resistance is low, or is it coming aging, is there any medicine to clear the malaria? ANSWER: While taking chloroquine can be used to treat malaria, it will not prevent re-infection, unfortunately. One thing to check though is whether you are living in an area where the local … [Read more...]
Causes of malaria, treatment with drugs and emerging resistance
QUESTION: What is malaria and what causes it besides bacteria? What is the name of the causal agent for malaria, which drug is used to cure it and how do the pathogens become resistant to the drugs? ANSWER: There are many questions in there! Malaria is actually caused by a single-celled animal, called a protozoan; it's not a bacterial disease. There are different species of these … [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...]
Malaria-Fighting Plants Under Threat
Researchers warn that East African plants that could cure malaria could disappear before scientists have a chance to study them. The World Health Organization estimates 800,000 people die of malaria each year, most of them young children in Africa. A new book by scientists at the World Agroforestry Centre, "Common Antimalarial Trees and Shrubs of East Africa," identifies 22 tree and shrub … [Read more...]