[Sue Maas]

Sue Maas  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Hi

I am a concerned Mum who has a son, his wife, two children aged 2 and 4 and one on the way. They all live and work in Nacala Mozambique as missionaries and my question to you is about malaria.

The whole family takes the necessary prophylactics but they still get malaria as apparently this particular strain is now resistant to all the common preventatives and now also to coartim which is used there as a curative.  As a result of this Deborah my son's wife, very nearly died last year when she got the disease, then their little girl got it and their son and a few weeks later my son who has had malaria every year, sometimes twice a year for the last 8 odd years.

Obviously the family is being especially careful with, their prophylactics insect sprays, nets and gauze in the house etc and spraying outside the house as well. However my question is this - is there anything else they can try to prevent this awful disease which I gather will eventually do serious damage to your body if it keeps reoccurring?  Are there added vitamins they can take or mineral salts to boost their immunity?  It seems so strange with all the research and work in malaria there still isn't something that can be done to eradicate this killer.

Please advise if you do have any suggestions as we are especially worried now that Deborah is pregnant. This apparently is the worst time of the year for malaria.

Kind regards and thanks
Sue Maas

What do you think?

[iko]

Hi Sue Maas,

I believe that the precautions you mentioned (...prophylactics insect sprays, nets and gauze in the house etc and spraying outside the house) are the mainstay for malaria prevention. No miracle cure for aggressive, drug resistant parasites, I'm afraid.

 

...Are there added vitamins they can take or mineral salts to boost their immunity?

Well, you might be interested in this 'old' piece of thread from this forum!
Unfortunately, most of these "nutritional" studies have to be confirmed.
Take care

iko

Malaria remains a major global health concern.
New, inexpensive, and effective antimalarial agents are urgently needed.

Hey! The old Ayurvedal/Chinese medicine is finally joining western orthodox medicine and is already giving very promising results, perhaps thanks to the immigrants from Asia to the USA/UK who are now leading big research labs.
Curcumin alone (Turmeric) is being extensively tested for various dreadful human diseases: hundreds of scientific reports and astonishing data...
Let's curry on!

iko

...these news come from the original Continent:
 

Curcumin-artemisinin combination therapy for malaria.

Nandakumar DN, Nagaraj VA, Vathsala PG, Rangarajan P, Padmanaban G.
Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, India.

Artemisinin and curcumin show an additive interaction in killing Plasmodium falciparum in culture. In vivo, 3 oral doses of curcumin following a single injection of alpha,beta-arteether to Plasmodium berghei-infected mice are able to prevent recrudescence due to alpha,beta-arteether monotherapy and ensure almost 100% survival of the animals.

Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2006 May;50(5):1859-60. 


But this paper came first:

 

Curcumin for malaria therapy.

Reddy RC, Vatsala PG, Keshamouni VG, Padmanaban G, Rangarajan PN.
Dept.Int.Med.The Univ.Michigan Med.School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0360, USA.

Malaria remains a major global health concern. New, inexpensive, and effective antimalarial agents are urgently needed. Here we show that curcumin, a polyphenolic organic molecule derived from turmeric, inhibits chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum growth in culture in a dose dependent manner with an IC(50) of approximately 5 microM. Additionally, oral administration of curcumin to mice infected with malaria parasite (Plasmodium berghei) reduces blood parasitemia by 80-90% and enhances their survival significantly. Thus, curcumin may represent a novel treatment for malarial infection.

Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2005 Jan 14;326(2):472-4.

http://www.sb-roscoff.fr/CyCell/Images/plasmodium1.jpg