Malaria: A Devastating Public Heath Concern

"A survey in Southeast Asia in 1999-2000 showed that of 104 shop-bought samples purportedly containing the antimalarial drug artesunate, 38% contained no artesunate. " [1]

Treatment 

Historically, treatment strategies have always centered around anti-malarial drugs such as chloroquine.  Chloroquine was discovered by Hans Andersag in 1934 in Germany and was established as a safe and effective antimalarial drug in 1946.  The most ancient treatment of fevers, quinine is also an effective antimalarial.  Artemisinin and quinine are some of the most effective antimalarial drugs available today.  Both of these antimalarial drugs have origins in ancient remedies for malaria and fevers, and have only recently been extracted by chemists as the active ingredient. 

Prevention

              Historical preventive methods have included landscape maintenance, prophylactic drug treatment, and minimizing standing water around homes and towns. Insecticides were also applied to larval breeding grounds as well as to large areas in some countries.  Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), which was first synthesized by Othmer Zeidler in 1874 was used widely for its insecticidal properties which became apparent through the work of Paul Mueller in 1939.  Mueller won the Nobel Prize in 1948.  DDT was used effectively to deter and kill adult mosquitoes by interfering with their central nervous system, but its use diminished greatly after Rachel Carson’s publication Silent Spring.  When used in large amounts it was shown to have detrimental long term environmental affects.