In 400 BC, Hippocrates believed that malaria was caused by bad air, especially at places near the swamps and lakes. The name “malaria”, meaning “bad air” in Italian, was derived from the miasma theory.[1] However, malaria has nothing to do with bad air. Malaria is all about where mosquitoes carrying the malaria parasite live (often near swamps and lakes) and the parasites inside those mosquitoes. Female mosquitoes usually carry the malaria parasites and inject them into the body when they bite for a blood meal.
The rapid spread of drug-resistant malaria in South-East Asia is a global concern. Malaria is the most important parasitic disease affecting humans. Although most malaria deaths occur in Africa, drug resistance has emerged repeatedly from South-East Asia. Artemisinin and its derivatives, plant-derived anti-malaria compounds, originally from China, are today the best treatment for malaria. However, in 2008, medical researchers found a strain of malaria resistant to artemisinin in South-East Asia.
About 212 million people are infected with malaria each year. If the drug-resistant strain spreads to Africa, where 92% of all malaria deaths occur, it could worsen what is already a major crisis there. [2]
Mosquito control and stopping the inappropriate use of antimalarial drugs are the keys to control malaria and drug-resistant malaria. People who are at risk of malaria should use insecticide-treated mosquito nets and spray indoors. All patients suspected of malaria should be confirmed using a rapid diagnostic test (RDT) or a microscope before receiving treatment.[3] Otherwise, the overuse of antimalarial drugs will keep driving the problem of antimalarial resistance.
Check out these videos about antimalarial:
Herbs And Empires: A Brief History of Malaria Drugs
Drug-Resistant Malaria Spreads in Southeast Asia
Drug-Resistant Malaria Spreads in Southeast Asia
U.S. Health Partnerships in the Mekong: Eliminating Artemisinin Resistant Malaria
References
1 Bierhoff, M. (2018, June 29). Malaria? I don't smell anything. Retrieved from https://bierhoffgoesviral.com/2017/12/01/malaria-i-dont-smell-anything/
2 Uwimana, A., Legrand, E., Stokes, B.H. et al. Emergence and clonal expansion of in vitro artemisinin-resistant Plasmodium
falciparum kelch13 R561H mutant parasites in Rwanda. Nat Med (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-1005-2
3 White, N. J. (n.d.). Nick White: Artemisinin therapy for malaria. Retrieved from https://www.tropmedres.ac/researcher-podcasts/podcasts/nick-white-artemisinin-therapy-for-malaria
4 WHO. (2019, March 27). Fact sheet about Malaria. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria