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Study examines artemisinin-based combination therapy as first-line treatment for malaria
When a mosquito begins to nibble on you, it is not merely feeding on your blood, it is also injecting its saliva into your skin. If that saliva happens to be full of parasites carrying malaria or other diseases from its last victim, then most likely you will become infected, too.
The first-line treatment for malaria, caused by the P. Falciparum parasite, is artemisinin-based combination therapy, which provides a one-two punch. The drug artemisinin (derived from the Asian Artemisia annua or sweet wormwood) is combined with a quinoline-based compound. Artemisinin weakens the parasite by oxidizing it; the quinoline drug kills it.
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Examining One-Two Punch of Malaria Drugs
A mosquito can inject parasites carrying diseases like malaria into you as it is biting. Photo courtesy Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Peter Vekilov, Moores Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Houston, is examining why the two drugs that most often cure malaria can also fail because they tend to fight each other.
When a mosquito begins to nibble on you, it is not merely feeding on your blood, it is also injecting its saliva into your skin. If that saliva happens to be full of parasites carrying malaria or other diseases from its last victim, then most likely you will become infected, too.