University of Hyderabad’s inhibitor increases effectiveness of malaria drugs

  1. Researchers at the University of Hyderabad have made a major breakthrough in malaria treatment.
  2. They have identified a chemical inhibitor which they say is equally effective against both drug-sensitive and multi-drug resistant malaria strains.
  3. This small chemical inhibitor is capable of blocking the DNA repair pathway which in turn kills the parasite known as Plasmodium falciparum.
  4. The use of the inhibitor in combination with either of two first-line malaria drugs namely artemisinin(ART) and chloroquine (CQ) might slightly bring down recovery time.
  5. Malaria is a disease caused by Plasmodium parasites that are transmitted to people through the bite of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.
  6. According to the World Malaria Report 2018,more than 200 million people were affected by malaria in 2017.India (4%) along with Nigeria Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, and Uganda accounted for nearly 50% of all malaria cases worldwide.