Three millennia of no eradicative solutions for Malaria

The Although the etiology of Malaria was identified only in the 19^th century, ancient scripts from various regions of the globe hold descriptions for medical cases similar to it. There has even been evidence of the parasite DNA in Egyptian mummies. This means that this insect vector-caused disease has been recognized for long enough for the global healthcare market to be able to eradicate it. But the malarial parasite has always been successful in defeating our drugs. How does it do this?

Malaria is caused by species of the parasitic genus, Plasmodium, the chief one being Plasmodium falciparum. Every time mankind has designed a drug against it, the defiant parasite has built an evolutionary riposte. The spread of the resistant parasite into populous countries like India would make it very difficult to control. There needs to be a solution before it is too late.

The therapeutic development

The considerations:

Plasmodium parasites have a complex life cycle. They complete this partly in the mosquito vector and partly in human cells. The genetic diversity of these organisms allows them to survive in multiple niches and thus difficult to eradicate completely.

With the advent of molecular tools, their genes and ability to exploit different environments have been recognized but there is no specific target stage of their life cycle for drugs to put an end to the disease. Pharmaceuticals like chloroquine and doxycycline that could once kill them are no longer effective against them because of their developed resistance.
This resistance could even be regional. Thus, recommendations for drugs against malaria differ from country to country. The global malaria diagnostics market is also challenged due to the dearth of efficient malaria- detecting technologies. Primary symptoms of malaria are also more flu-like and difficult to characterize.

For effective prevention, drugs that can prevent transmission and present a radical cure must be introduced.

Where today’s therapeutics stand:

There have been great efforts to develop a vaccine for malaria, but no effective targets in the lifecycle of the parasite have been identified. Malaria being a cause of many deaths, there has been a subsequent scale-up in control interventions. Although there was a lack of monetary support in the initial day, recent healthcare market research reports show an increased funding for malaria-based research. There is more optimism for a radical solution now than ever. Research has gained momentum and there are more opportunities in the field of drug delivery and development.