Plasmodium Falciparum

The transmission of Plasmodium falciparum, known as being responsible for the lethal and severe form of Malaria, has been importantly reduced in the last few years. However, the effective fight against the disease is still facing some difficulties due to the high capacity of adaptation to the treatment of parasite, increasing its resistance to available medicaments. Indeed, the appearance of P. falciparum chloroquine-resistant happened initially in the Magdalena’s Valley, Colombia, but soon it was discovered in other Latin America’s endemics areas, including Brazil, and Asia. More recently, resistance emerged as well in the African Continent, where it constitutes a stunning problem for disease control. Another relevant fact is the reporting of cases of severe malaria caused by the P. vivax, parasite traditionally responsible for the benign form of the disease. Interestingly, though malaria is an existing disease since the beginnings of civilization, with reports dating more than 5 thousand years ago, it’s systematic treatment only began in the XVII century, when the Jesuits who came to South America observed that plants of the genre Cinchona spp (Rubiaceaes family) popularly known as quinas, were used for the treatment of febrile diseases. However, only in 1820 the alkaloid quinine was identified as the active substance from Cinchona s barks, becoming the basis of antimalarial therapy since then. Amazon’s Medicinal Plants: A New Solution for Malaria Treatment?: Maria Fâni Dolabela, Alaíde Braga Oliveira and Sandro Percário

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Last date updated on April, 2024