artemisinin based combination therapy : Impact Malaria: paludisme, information for the public and healthcare professionals

Furthermore, the chemoresistance of Plasmodium falciparum imposes therapeutic choices with less well-tolerated and much more expensive molecules than chloroquine, resistance to these new molecules may also develop rapidly, if they are not used judiciously. Only evidence of the parasite may provide a sure diagnosis and lead to appropriate treatment., \'Malaria is the most important and the most widespread of the transmissible diseases. It threatens almost one third of Humanity, affects around 600 million people and is responsible, each year, for more than 2 million deaths, caused by microscopic parasites, Plasmodia, this disease is transmitted by the bite of certain mosquitoes, the Anopheles.

Its symptoms include bouts of a special type of fever, as well as an increase in the volume of the spleen and various other disorders, but malaria may involve complications such as cerebral attacks causing a fatal coma, especially among young children living in malaria-endemic areas or among expatriates and tourists.

artemisinin based combination therapy
Globally, malaria thrives in various inter-tropical regions, with the obvious exception of the desert areas or high mountains, beyond geographical or climatic factors, the frequency of the disease is essentially controlled by the mosquito vector, certain species are, in fact, more active than others. This explains the frequency and the intensity of the infection in inter-tropical Africa and in certain regions of the Amazon Basin, on the other hand, the intensity of transmission is lower in other inter-tropical regions and especially in South East Asia.

artemisinin based combination therapy

The agents of malaria, called Plasmodia, are microscopic parasites measuring a few thousandths of a millimeter, which always develop inside host cells, of the 4 plasmodial species that can live as a parasite in humans, Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium malariae, the most important is Plasmodium falciparum since it is both the most widespread and the only one capable of producing fatal complications. The Plasmodia develop inside red blood cells, they reproduce by asexual multiplication. artemisinin based combination therapy The affected red blood cells eventually burst, releasing their parasites which can reach other red blood cells and continue to develop, when they burst, certain substances are released hemozoin. They play an essential role in the appearance of the fever, in addition, the development of all the Plasmodia quickly becomes synchronous, so that all the infected red blood cells burst at the same time and release both the parasites and the hemozoin they contained.