A new antimalarial compound may be able to both treat current infections and protect against future ones, according to a study published in Nature.
According to SciDev.Net, just one dose of the compound could be used to fight malaria infections in patients and increase their immunity against the parasite, according to the researchers. Kevin Read, a researcher at the University of Dundee’s Drug Discovery Unit in the United Kingdom and one of the leaders of the study, says clinical trials of the compound should begin within a year.
“The compound interferes with some of the machinery involved in protein synthesis in the parasite at different stages of its life cycle,” Read says. As the chemical remains active for a very long time within the body, he adds, it could also become a protective agent, preventing healthy people from contracting the disease.
Malaria kills more than half a million people a year, according to the World Health Organization, mostly children under five years of age. The WHO reports that progress in medical research, coupled with better prevention, has nearly halved malaria deaths since 2000.
