Antimalarial drug discovery: Where next?

摘要

Malaria is a parasitic infection of the genus Plasmodium and has historically been one of mankind's deadliest diseases. The good news is that over the last decade there has been major progress in its control with 655,000 deaths reported by the WHO during 2010, compared with well over 1 million deaths at the turn of the millennium. This reduction has been achieved thanks largely to the increased use of insecticide treated bed-nets, indoor residual spraying to kill mosquitos (the vector that carries the parasite and infects humans) and the availability and use of effective, safe and high-quality medicines [101].