Scientists from Scotland have reported a major breakthrough in fight against malaria.
The team from Edinburgh University in collaboration with a team in Portugal have discovered a gene that offers the drug resistance trait to the parasite. Drug-resistant plasmodium falciparum parasites are a major hindrance in the battle against the deadly disease. Chloroquine, the most commonly prescribed medicine against malaria has lost its effectiveness due to the proliferation of chloroquine resistant parasites.
Scientists think this is a major development in malaria research. Malarial kills one to three million people annually, mostly children. These findings may pave a way for a new class of anti-malarials.
The study has been published in Biomedical Central (Sept 2010)
