Malarial Attack Recurring

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QUESTION

My Father aged 65 years was diagnosed with malaria 15 days back and was on medication. Fever was recurring frequently and he had developed a lung infection. Three days back fever stopped and did not occur for 2 days and malarial infection was reducing. Now the Fever has started coming but other parameters are normal. Can you please suggest what needs to be done?

ANSWER

If your father also developed a lung infection, was he treated with antibiotics? If not, his later fever could be caused by that infection, and could be unrelated to the malaria.

He should have another blood test, to look for the malaria parasites; if they are still present, then you should talk to his doctor about trying another type of anti-malarial medication—the World Health Organization recommends artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), such as Coartem, Alu and Duo-Cotecxin, as the first-line treatment against uncomplicated malaria.

However, given that your father appears to have concurrent other medical conditions, it may be that other treatment is more appropriate, and as such it is very important that you check with your doctor before taking additional medication.

Naturally Drug-Resistant Cave Bacteria Possible Key to New Antibiotics

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New research findings suggest the key to finding a whole new variety of antibiotics to treat drug-resistant infections may lie with the resident bacteria in one of the most isolated caves in the world.

The U.S. scientists who conducted the study say bacteria collected from Lechuguilla Cave in the state of New Mexico appear to possess an innate resistance to antibiotics, despite never having been exposed to any human sources.

Some of the bacteria had a pre-existing defense against as many as 14 different antibiotics. In all, the scientists say the cave-dwelling organisms showed a naturally-developed resistance to virtually every antibiotic currently used to treat bacterial infections.

While this may sound like bad news, the researchers explain that finding isolated, drug-resistant bacteria actually is a good thing. They say it suggests there are many types of previously unknown, naturally-occurring antibiotics in the environment that can be developed for doctors to use against currently untreatable infections.

First discovered 70 years ago, antibiotics are only effective against disease caused by bacterial infection. However, decades of widespread overuse, especially in agriculture industries, and via over-prescription by doctors, has made increasing types of disease-causing bacteria – so-called superbugs – immune to antibiotics.

There is increasing concern among scientists and medical experts that current antibiotic treatments could become completely ineffective against bacterial infections, which would be catastrophic for millions of people around the world suffering from diseases such as malaria.

Meanwhile, the scientists who conducted the new research point out that none of the Lechuguilla Cave bacteria used in their work are capable of making people sick.

The study was led by researchers from McMaster University and the University of Akron, both in the state of Ohio. A report on their findings is published in the journal, PLoS One (Public Library of Science One).

Bacteria are highly-adaptable microscopic single-cell organisms. One of Earth’s earliest life forms, evidence in the fossil record indicates bacteria have existed for about 3.5 billion years.

In addition to malaria, examples of other serious illnesses caused by bacterial infection include bubonic plague, tuberculosis, salmonella, and certain types of pneumonia and meningitis.

However, not all bacteria are bad or cause disease. Most are harmless to humans. Naturally-occurring bacteria in the human body help digest food, provide vital nutrients, fight cancer cells, and destroy disease-causing microbes.

Lechuguilla Cave was discovered in 1986. Since then, the U.S. Park Service has tightly restricted access to only a few scientific researchers and cave experts per year. Surrounded by a thick layer of watertight rock, the cave also is geologically isolated. The scientists say it can take up to 10,000 years for water to reach the inner-recesses of the cave where they collected the bacteria samples for their study.

Source: VOA News

Bioengineered Antibiotic Could Lead to Improved Malaria Therapy

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A natural antibiotic long known for its power to fight bacteria, viruses and tumors has recently shown strength against malaria, but its extreme toxicity has impeded its use in medicine.

However, a bioengineering breakthrough has opened a new avenue in the global battle against malaria.

Scientists at Oregon State University have engineered several new versions of the antibiotic pactamycin that are up to 30 times less toxic than the parent compound. The new compounds, whose genetic structures were modified in the lab, retain their potency against malaria-causing parasites yet pose fewer risks to patients.

“The results could lead to a new direction in the discovery and development of drugs against malaria and other life-threatening infections caused by protozoa,” said OSU researcher Taifo Mahmud, an author of the study reported in the journal Chemistry & Biology.

The natural form of pactamycin occurs in soil bacteria. It attacks not only protozoa such as the mosquito-borne P. falciparum, which causes malaria, but also bacteria, viruses and tumors. Unfortunately, it attacks healthy cells in mammals, as well. In an effort to capture pactamycin’s benefits while eliminating or minimizing its detriments, OSU researchers modified the genetic structure of the microbe that produces the antibiotic by inactivating or “knocking out” certain genes. They tested the new versions – called “analogues” – on human colorectal cancer cells.

“The results revealed that the new analogues are significantly less toxic than pactamycin,” said Mahmud, a medicinal chemist in the OSU College of Pharmacy.

Mahmud said the OSU study is a promising development in the struggle against malaria, which annually infects 250 million people and kills nearly 1 million worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

“Although pactamycin was first reported in the 1960s and its various biological activities have been extensively investigated, further development of this compound was hampered by its wide-ranging cytotoxicity,” Mahmud said.

“The study resulted in a number of pactamycin analogues that showed potent antimalarial activity but, in contrast to pactamycin, have reduced cytotoxicity against mammalian cells.”

Source: Oregon State University

Anti-Infective Drugs Market to Reach $66 Billion by 2013, Says Report

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The anti-infective drugs market will jump to $66 billion by 2013, according to a recently published report.

Anti-infective drugs include: anti-viral therapeutics, antibiotics, anti-fungal agents and prophylactic treatments such as vaccines. Six infectious diseases — pneumonia, tuberculosis, diarrheal diseases, malaria, measles and HIV/AIDS — account for half of all premature deaths worldwide. With a worldwide death toll from infectious diseases exceeding 14 million, anti-infective drugs are vital.

To date, the most successful anti-infective drugs target the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, the virus that causes AIDS), the herpes virus (HSV-1 and HSV-2), bacterial infections and hepatitis C (HCV). Truvada, Valtrex, Cravit, Floxin, Atripla, Pegasys, Kaletra and Reyataz are among the anti-infective drugs with the highest global sales.

The report, entitled  “Anti-Infective Drugs Markets,” was produced by TriMark Publications.

The “Anti-Infective Drugs Markets” report covers:

  • Pneumonia
  • Influenza
  • Avian Bird Flu
  • Sinusitis
  • Acute Suppurative Thyroiditis
  • Complicated Skin and Skin Structure Infections (cSSSIs)
  • Lymphadenitis
  • Pharyngotonsillitis
  • Vascular Infections
  • Pancreatitis
  • Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)
  • Viral Encephalitis
  • Reye’s Syndrome
  • Blood-Borne Infections
  • Malaria
  • West Nile Virus

The “Anti-Infective Drugs Markets” report examines companies manufacturing anti-infective drugs equipment and supplies in the world. Companies covered include: Abraxis Bioscience, Acambis, Achillion, Adlyfe, Advanced Life Sciences Holdings, Affinium, Akonni Biosystems, Alnylam, APP, Aquapharm Biodiscovery, Arbor Vita, Arpida, Avexa, Basilea, Baxter, Biophage Pharma, CEL-SCI, Cerexa, Combimatrix, Cubist, Daiichi Sankyo, Hospira, Idenix, Incyte, Medivir, Meiji Holdings, MerLion, Mutabilis, Nanobio, Nanosphere, Nanoviricides, Novabay, Obetech, Optimer, Panacos, Paratek, Pharmasset, Pico, Polymedix, Powdermed, Presidio, Progenics, Protez, Rib-X, Ribomed, Targanta, Theravance, Trius, Vertex and X-GEN.

Detailed charts with sales forecasts and marketshare data are included.

More information: TriMark Publications.

Source: Business Wire