Parasitic diseases

Advising patients about malaria risks and prevention

Pharmacists must be able to advise UK-based travellers to malaria-endemic areas on the precautions they can take to protect themselves against the disease.…

Large malaria genome study highlights surprising number of potential drug targets

A large-scale study of malaria gene function reveals an abundance of essential parasite genes that could be targets for new antimalarial drugs.…

How the Gates Foundation seeks to energise the global fight against neglected tropical diseases

The president of the global health division at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Trevor Mundel, reveals how it is taking action against neglected tropical diseases.…

Researchers uncover the mechanism of mefloquine

Using cryo-electron microscopy technology, researchers mapped the binding of mefloquine in the Plasmodium falciparum parasite and discovered that by modifying the binding site, the drug’s potency could be enhanced.…

Live malaria vaccine effective in human trial

Injecting healthy volunteers with sporozoites from malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum offered successful protection against injected malaria ten weeks after final dose.…

African parasite shows signs of resistance to widely used malaria treatment

Artemether-lumefantrine, the most widely used antimalaria treatment in Africa and the one recommended for treating imported cases of the disease in the UK, is starting to fail, experts have warned.…

Most popular features of 2016 from The Pharmaceutical Journal

Dawn Connelly describes the most popular features and infographics published in 2016.…

Newly identified compound could both treat and prevent malaria

Bicyclic azetidines have the potential to both cure malaria and prevent malaria transmission, study shows.…

Opportunities missed to review mefloquine use in the UK military

The antimalarial drug mefloquine (Lariam) is notorious for inducing neuropsychiatric effects in some users[1] . From 1993 onwards it was dispensed routinely to around 2,000 UK military personnel each year, mostly soldiers training in the Nanyuki Highlands of central Kenya (and where, ironic…

Mefloquine should be last resort for military personnel, MP committee says

The antimalarial treatment mefloquine (Lariam) should be considered a “drug of last resort” when used by UK military personnel because of its potential to cause severe psychological side effects, according to an influential committee of MPs.…