Artemisinin News and Research

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Artemisinin is a drug used to treat multi-drug resistant strains of falciparum malaria. The compound (a sesquiterpene lactone) is isolated from the plant Artemisia annua. Not all plants of this species contain artemisinin.

Exposure to artemisinin drug could increase sexual conversion rate of malaria parasite

Exposure to suboptimal doses of the antiparasitic drug artemisinin could increase the sexual conversion rate of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, thereby increasing the probability of transmission, according to a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an institution supported by "la Caixa" Foundation.

29 Oct 2020

Study offers new insight on molecular mechanisms that allow malaria parasites to spread disease

New insight on the molecular mechanisms that allow malaria parasites to move and spread disease within their hosts has been published today in the open-access eLife journal.

14 Oct 2020

Study reveals potential utility of artemisinin-based treatments against SARS-CoV-2

In a recent, methodologically robust bioRXiv preprint paper, researchers from Germany, Denmark and Hong Kong report in vitro efficacy of extracts from the sweet wormwood plant (Artemisia annua), but also artemisinin, artesunate and artemether derivatives against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

6 Oct 2020

Understanding how the malaria parasite can withstand fever's heat

Even when a person suffering from malaria is burning up with fever and too sick to function, the tiny blood-eating parasites lurking inside them continue to flourish, relentlessly growing and multiplying as they gobble up the host's red blood cells.

5 Oct 2020

Using medieval medicine to find new treatments for modern-day infections

News-Medical spoke to researchers from the University of Warwick about their research investigating natural antimicrobials and their potential as antibiotics.

11 Aug 2020

Scientists detect emergence and spread of artemisinin-resistant malaria parasites in Rwanda

Resistance to artemisinin, the main component of the current antimalarial treatments recommended by WHO, is already widespread in South-East Asia, but it had not previously been described in Africa.

5 Aug 2020

SwRI, UTSA researchers receive grant to create powerful, cost-effective malaria treatment

Southwest Research Institute and The Uni-versity of Texas at San Antonio are working to synthesize novel highly potent derivatives of the antimalarial drug artemisinin with the goal of creating a powerful, cost-effective malaria treatment.

27 Jul 2020

Tomocube holotomography microscopy reveals novel cholesterol membrane transport system in erythrocytes infected with fatal malaria parasite

The first study to elucidate the dynamics of membrane cholesterol transport in erythrocytes has been successfully concluded using holotomography microscopy.

From Tomocube Inc. 24 Jun 2020

Malaria risk in deforestation hotspots linked to demand for agricultural commodities

A paper recently published in Nature Communications is the first to show a connection between demand from certain developed countries for agricultural commodities and the growing risk of malaria in the countries that supply those goods.

4 Jun 2020

USAMRDC receives FDA marketing approval for severe malaria treatment

The U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted marketing approval for Artesunate for Injection, an initial treatment for severe malaria.

27 May 2020

Fast-acting anti-malarial compound shows promise in first clinical trial

A fast-acting anti-malarial compound discovered at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital was well tolerated and showed promising anti-malarial effects in the first study in humans.

27 Mar 2020

Triple therapies effective and safe in malaria

A new study describing the outcome of a clinical trial of two malaria treatment protocols involving the use of triple therapies based on artemisinin reports their high efficacy and low adverse effects.

12 Mar 2020

Researchers use single cell genome sequencing to study malaria transmission

New technology employing single cell genome sequencing of the parasite that causes malaria has yielded some surprising results and helps pave the way for possible new intervention strategies for this deadly infectious disease, according to Texas Biomedical Research Institute Assistant Professor Ian Cheeseman, Ph.D. Dr. Cheeseman was Principal Investigator of a three-year study published in the January 2020 edition of Cell Host & Microbe, a high-impact peer-reviewed publication.

8 Jan 2020

Scientists identify molecules capable of inhibiting DNA methylation, effectively killing malaria parasites

Parasites in the genus Plasmodium, which cause malaria, are transmitted to humans through bites from infected mosquitoes.

31 Dec 2019

Researchers study molecular elements effective in fighting malaria

The scientists research a building block of organic molecules needed for medical chemistry development. Spirocycles in nature is an element, that chemists are crazy about. This element presents in artemisinin, the most effective group of drugs against malaria.

21 Dec 2019

Certain traditional soup broths possess antimalarial properties

Researchers have found that some soups have antimalarial properties and can interrupt the life cycle of a malarial parasite.

19 Nov 2019

Malaria parasite with Quinoline drug investigated in-vivo

Researchers from Israel, in collaboration with others looked at the effects of the malaria plasmodium on red blood cells in vivo in presence of a drug, to understand the workings of the pathogen in its disease causing ability and also lay foundation for development of effective treatment for the deadly disease.

31 Oct 2019

Malarial treatment from Antarctic sea sponge

Malaria, which ravages hot tropical areas, could be treated effectively using a protein extracted from an Antarctic sponge.

12 Sep 2019

Study sheds light on emergence and spread of drug-resistant malaria parasites in Africa

In the first continent-wide genomic study of malaria parasites in Africa, scientists have uncovered the genetic features of Plasmodium falciparum parasites that inhabit different regions of the continent, including the genetic factors that confer resistance to anti-malarial drugs.

23 Aug 2019

Common antimalarial treatment has less effect in children with severe malnutrition

Researchers have found that severe malnutrition is associated with lower exposure to the antimalarial drug lumefantrine in children treated with artemether-lumefantrine, the most common treatment, for uncomplicated falciparum malaria.

24 Jul 2019