Science Current Events | Science News | Brightsurf.com
 
Email a Friend Send to a friend
Printer Friendly Print Best way to treat malaria: Avoid using same drug for everyone, scientists say
Slashdot It! Slashdot Best way to treat malaria: Avoid using same drug for everyone, scientists say
Submit to Reddit Submit Best way to treat malaria: Avoid using same drug for everyone, scientists say to Reddit
Reading: Best way to treat malaria: Avoid using same drug for everyone, scientists sayTwitter This Reading: Best way to treat malaria: Avoid using same drug for everyone, scientists sayTwitter Best way to treat malaria: Avoid using same drug for everyone, scientists say
Add to Facebook Add Best way to treat malaria: Avoid using same drug for everyone, scientists say to Facebook

Best way to treat malaria: Avoid using same drug for everyone, scientists say

September 08, 2008

A team of scientists employing a sophisticated computer model pioneered at Princeton University and Resources for the Future has found that many governments worldwide are recommending the wrong kind of malaria treatment.

Despite the availability of many drugs and therapies to treat malaria, many countries' national policies recommend using what is known as a single first-line therapy -- that is, using one drug repeatedly with many patients. Writing in the Sept. 16 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team led by Maciej Boni, who conducted the research as a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton and scholar at Resources, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, reports that countries could cut the death rate and forestall the development of drug resistance if a variety of different drugs were distributed to patients.




This approach, known as multiple first-line therapies or MFT, could be put into place by making sure different drugs cost about the same, so that patients would not be forced into buying the cheapest available drug but would choose from a random pool. Or it could be applied by clinic physicians who could simply alternate their choices for drugs they prescribe to patients.

"What we found is that using multiple first-line therapies is the best way to avoid treatment failures and to delay the development of resistance for as long as possible," said Boni, who recently has joined the staff of the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

One catch to the researchers' strategy is that multiple effective therapies may not always be available. In some African countries where drug-resistance is already widespread, the only effective therapies are a class of drugs known as artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs).

"MFT does not necessarily solve all our problems," said Boni. "Antimalarial drug development needs to continue with the hope of producing novel and highly effective antimalarials that can be deployed alongside ACTs."

Some 350 to 500 million people are infected with malaria every year by being bitten by a mosquito carrying one of the four human malaria parasites, P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae or P. ovale, according to statistics maintained by the World Health Organization. Falciparum infections are by far the most common, killing more than 1 million people each year. Malaria also contributes indirectly to many more deaths, mainly in young children, among those already suffering from other infections and illnesses. About 60 percent of the cases of malaria worldwide and more than 80 percent of malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.

Boni, a mathematician as well as an evolutionary biologist, and his co-authors, Ramanan Laxminarayan and David Smith, designed a computer model with inputs based on more than 100 years of malaria field research. They simulated dozens of treatment paths for a malaria outbreak among patients contrasting many variations of the status quo strategy of using a single first-line therapy with one employing MFT.

They found there were major benefits to employing an MFT strategy, namely, fewer cases of malaria, fewer unsuccessful drug treatments, and a very significant delay in the onset of drug resistance in the parasites. As parasite resistance to antimalarial drugs is the key factor that can make drugs obsolete and useless, delaying and slowing down the evolution of drug-resistance is often viewed as a public health priority when designing strategies for eliminating or controlling malaria.

The computerized analysis conducted by the team represents the most extensive look yet at the question of what works best for large-scale and long-term malaria control. Boni, whose research focuses on the public health consequences of the evolution of infectious diseases, said their study was largely influenced by the work of the theoretical ecologist Simon Levin. Levin, the George M. Moffett Professor of Biology at Princeton, has over the past four decades pioneered techniques that apply rigorous mathematical analysis to biological problems, paving the way for work such as this, according to Boni.

Boni, who earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics from Princeton in 1999, has been a postdoctoral fellow in Levin's lab as well as in the Princeton Environmental Institute. Laxminarayan is both an economist at Resources for the Future in Washington, D.C., and a visiting research scholar at the Princeton Environmental Institute. Smith, who earned his doctoral degree in ecology and evolutionary biology from Princeton in 1998, is a mathematical epidemiologist and faculty member at the University of Florida.

The work was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

Princeton University





Science News and Science Current Events Tag Cloud
This tag cloud is a visual representation of term frequencies of random science news topics with common terms grouped together and emphasized by their display size.
Gestational Diabetes   Menopause   Metabolic Syndrome   Premature Babies   Vision Loss   Sharks   Protein   Hormone Therapy   Climate   Partner Violence   Color Vision   Urinary Tract Infection   Autoimmune Diseases   Neuroblastoma   Caffeine   Cisplatin   Photosynthesis   Clinical Trials   Coral   Air Pollution   Neurogenesis   Cancer Care   Cell Division   General Relativity   Concussion  
Related Malaria Current Events and Malaria News Articles Malaria Current Events and Malaria News RSS Malaria Current Events and Malaria News RSS
Breakthrough in combating the side effects of Quinine
Discovered back in the 1600s quinine was the first effective treatment in the fight against malaria - and it continues to be a commonly used treatment against this devastating disease.

Tryptophan deficiency may underlie quinine side effects
Researchers have found that the anti-malarial drug quinine can block a cell's ability to take up the essential amino acid tryptophan, a discovery that may explain many of the adverse side-effects associated with quinine.

Variation in the same gene affects rate of parasite infection in both humans and baboons
Researchers at the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy have found that variation in the same gene in humans and baboons produces the same kind of disease resistance.

Global health funding soars, boosted by unprecedented private giving
Well-heeled donors, private corporations and average citizens sending money to their favorite charities are changing the landscape of global health funding.

New malaria agent found in chimpanzees close to that commonly observed in humans
Researchers based in Gabon and France report the discovery of a new malaria agent infecting chimpanzees in Central Africa.

Jeepers Creepers! Climate Change Threatens Endangered Honeycreepers
As climate change causes temperatures to increase in Hawaii's mountains, deadly non-native bird diseases will likely also creep up the mountains, invading most of the last disease-free refuges for honeycreepers - a group of endangered and remarkable birds.

Old Stain in a New Combination
New combinations of agents based on the oldest synthetic malaria drug, the methylene blue stain, can curb the spread of malaria parasites and make a significant contribution to the long-term eradication called for by the international "Roll Back Malaria Initiative."

Electronic monitoring and mapping enables malaria management
A Geographic Information System (GIS)-driven digital map of past and predicted malaria outbreak hotspots has been used in India as part of a national control program. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access International Journal of Health Geographics describe the creation of the GIS and its implementation in the malaria-stricken Madhya Pradesh region.

TB vaccine gets its groove back
A team of Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators has cracked one of clinical medicine's enduring mysteries - what happened to the tuberculosis vaccine.

New lead on malaria treatment
Approximately 350 million to 500 million cases of malaria are diagnosed each year mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. While medications to prevent and treat malaria do exist, the demand for new treatments is on the rise, in part, because malaria parasites have developed a resistance to existing medications.
More Malaria Current Events and Malaria News Articles
The Making of a Tropical Disease: A Short History of Malaria (Johns Hopkins Biographies of Disease)

The Making of a Tropical Disease: A Short History of Malaria (Johns Hopkins Biographies of Disease)
by Randall M. Packard (Author)

Malaria sickens hundreds of millions of people -- and kills one to three million -- each year. Despite massive efforts to eradicate the disease, it remains a major public health problem in poorer tropical regions. But malaria has not always been concentrated in tropical areas. How did other regions control malaria and why does the disease still flourish in some parts of the globe?

From Russia to Bengal to Palm Beach, Randall Packard's far-ranging narrative traces the natural and social forces that help malaria spread and make it deadly. He finds that war, land development, crumbling health systems, and globalization -- coupled with climate change and changes in the distribution and flow of water -- create conditions in which malaria's carrier mosquitoes thrive. The combination of...

Compiled 1981-1984

Compiled 1981-1984
by Malaria!



The Malaria Capers : More Tales of Parasites and  People, Research and Reality

The Malaria Capers : More Tales of Parasites and People, Research and Reality
by Robert S. Desowitz (Author)

"Reads like a murder mystery. . . . [Desowitz] writes with uncommon lucidity and verse, leaving the reader with a vivid understanding of malaria and other tropical diseases, and the ways in which culture, climate and politics have affected their spread and containment."—New York Times Why, Robert S. Desowitz asks, has biotechnical research on malaria produced so little when it had promised so much? An expert in tropical diseases, Desowtiz searches for answers in this provocative book.



MALARIA

MALARIA

Orange, Laurel, Mandarin, Tangerine, Lavender, Rosewood, Tsuga, Neroli, Frankincense, Peppermint

Malaria: Fever Wars

Malaria: Fever Wars
Starring: Artist Not Provided



Humanity's Burden: A Global History of Malaria (Studies in Environment and History)

Humanity's Burden: A Global History of Malaria (Studies in Environment and History)
by James L.A. Webb Jr. (Author)

Humanity's Burden provides a panoramic overview of the history of malaria. It traces the long arc of malaria out of tropical Africa into Eurasia, its transfer to the Americas during the early years of the Columbian exchange, and its retraction from the middle latitudes into the tropics since the late nineteenth century. Adopting a broadly comparative approach to historical patterns and processes, it synthesizes research findings from the natural and social sciences and weaves these understandings into a narrative that reaches from the earliest evidence of malaria infections in tropical Africa up to the present. Written in a style that is easily accessible to non-specialists, it considers the significance of genetic mutations, diet, lifestyle, migration, warfare, palliative and curative...

First Comes Love, then Comes Malaria: How a Peace Corps Poster Boy Won My Heart and A Third World Adventure Changed My Life

First Comes Love, then Comes Malaria: How a Peace Corps Poster Boy Won My Heart and A Third World Adventure Changed My Life
by Broadway

In this laugh-out-loud funny memoir, a pampered city girl falls head over little-black-heels in love with a Peace Corps poster boy and follows him—literally—to the ends of the earth.
Eve Brown always thought she would join the Peace Corps someday, although she secretly worried about life without sushi, frothy coffee drinks, and air conditioning. But with college diploma in hand, it was time to put up or shut up. So with some ambivalence she arrives at the Peace Corps office—sporting her best safari chic attire —to casually look into the steps one might take if one were to become a global humanitarian, à la Angelina Jolie. But when Eve meets John, her dashing young Peace Corps recruiter, all her ambivalence flies out the window. She absolutely must join the Peace Corps—and...

First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria: How a Peace Corps Poster Boy Won My Heart and a Third World Adventure Changed My Life

First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria: How a Peace Corps Poster Boy Won My Heart and a Third World Adventure Changed My Life
by Eve Brown-Waite (Author)

In this laugh-out-loud funny memoir, a pampered city girl falls head over little black heels in love with a Peace Corps poster boy and follows him —literally–to the ends of the earth.
Eve Brown always thought she would join the Peace Corps someday, although she secretly worried about life without sushi, frothy coffee drinks and air conditioning.  But with college diploma in hand, it was time to put up or shut up. So with some ambivalence she arrives at the Peace Corps office–sporting her best safari chic attire –to casually look into the steps one might take if one were to become a global humanitarian, a la Angelina Jolie.  But when Eve meets John, her dashing young Peace Corps recruiter, all her ambivalence flies out the window. She absolutely must join the Peace Corps -...

MALARIA GIANT MICROBE PLUSH

MALARIA GIANT MICROBE PLUSH
by Giant Microbes

GIANTmicrobes are fun and educational?a great way to learn about various health topics and the microscopic critters that are found in and around us. Each microbe character is 5-7? in size--over a million times their actual size! Perfect for teachers, parents and budding scientists?they also make humorous gifts. Each microbe comes with an information tag including scientific name, an image of the actual microbe, and a mini history and science lesson. Not suitable for children under 3 years.   Our products are made by top manufacturers who care about toy safety, quality and value. Your order will ship factory fresh directly from our warehouse to your door. We carefully inspect and beautifully package every order before shipment to ensure that you receive high quality products that are...

Malaria Protection Kit

Malaria Protection Kit
by Traveler's Supply, Inc

The Malaria Protection Kit contains: 1 8oz. DurationTM Permethrin 0.5% RTU Kills insects when they come in contact with it Repels and kills mosquitoes that may carry West Nile virus, Malaria and ticks that may carry Lyme disease or Rocky Mountain spotted fever For use on clothing, tents or netting. Safe for use on childrens clothing The active ingredient (Permethrin) actually binds to the fabric being treated and is completely odorless after application It is safe for use on natural and synthetic fibers 3 oz. (sprayed) treats 2 sets of clothes for 2 weeks or 2 launderings 1-bottle used as a soaking method provides 6 weeks of protection 1- 2oz. & 3single use packets of UltrathonTM Insect Repellent Rated the # 1 most effective insect repellent lotion by a leading consumer...

© 2009 BrightSurf.com