How does artemisinin eliminate Plasmodium falciparum?

Artemisinin kills malaria parasites by damaging proteins and inhibiting the proteasome.

How does Plasmodium become resistant?

Resistance of malaria parasites arises from several factors, including overuse of antimalarial drugs for prophylaxis, inadequate or incomplete therapeutic treatments of active infections, a high level of parasite adaptability at the genetic and metabolic levels, and a massive proliferation rate that permits selected …

What is artemisinin based combination therapy for malaria?

Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) are the first-line therapy in almost all countries where malaria is endemic due to the high efficacy, tolerability, and ability of ACTs to reduce ongoing transmission of the parasite. ACTs are comprised of two components: an artemisinin derivative and a partner drug.

How does Artemisinin based combination therapy work?

The primary advantage of the combination is that the artemisinin quickly and drastically reduces the majority of malaria parasites, and the partner drug clears the small number of parasites that remain.

What is artemisinin based combination therapy?

Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) has been adopted by the World Health Organization as a first-line treatment for uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria. In endemic regions, it has proven more effective in treating the disease, and even in reducing its transmission.

How does artemisinin-based combination therapies ACTs treat malaria?

How did P. falciparum become resistant to chloroquine?

Abstract. Resistance to chloroquine of malaria strains is known to be associated with a parasite protein named PfCRT, the mutated form of which is able to reduce chloroquine accumulation in the digestive vacuole of the pathogen.

Which genotype is resistant to malaria?

genotype HbAS
Sickle cell trait (genotype HbAS) confers a high degree of resistance to severe and complicated malaria [1–4] yet the precise mechanism remains unknown.

Why is artemisinin combination therapy used?

How effective is artemisinin-based combination therapies?

The analysis of artesunate-mefloquine (AS-MQ) included 42 studies in six countries. Studies of AS-MQ demonstrated an overall efficacy of 94.9%. In the WHO African Region, two studies were conducted in Senegal in 2010, both with a high treatment efficacy of 99.5%.

Why is combination therapy used in malaria?

The major reason for the great mortality caused by malaria infections globally is drug resistance [5]. Chloroquine, the most active antimalarial, suffers from drug resistance [6]. Combination therapy is a promising approach that is currently employed to overcome drug resistance [7,8].

What are the components of artemisinin combination therapy?

Four ACTs are currently recommended by WHO: artesunate–mefloquine, artesunate–sulfadoxine–pyrimethamine (SP), artesunate–amodiaquine, and artemether–lumefantrine.

Does artemisinin cross the blood brain barrier?

Artemisinin can cross the blood-brain and blood-placenta barriers after intravenous administration (Niu et al., 1985).