What if Malaria Parasite becomes Resistant to all Drugs?
It happened in labs, how far are we to this happening in real life?
In this last year, the worldwide attention has been on COVID19, however in the souther hemisphere malaria is still the main killer, or at least it still represents a burden for the people becoming ill in terms of lost days of work or other opportunities (WHO 2018–2020). Malaria is an infectious disease spread by mosquitos, which affects humans and other animals causing symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches, and ultimately death if untreated. There are several recognized treatments and prophylaxis. The most common prophylaxis is Malarone (atovaquone and proguanil), and the most common and effective treatments are derivates of artemisin. The story goes like this: A person is bitten by a mosquito carrying a malaria plasmodium, the plasmodium through the blood travel to liver where a specific form of it (merozoites) infects the red cells. Artemisin kills the parasites inside the red cells. Most of this cycle can be seen animated in the video below from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute:
