Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

"Malaria: History, Lifecycle and Mechanism of Drug Resistance in the Plasmodium Parasite"

Bintu J. Sowe
Mentor: Dr. Pamela Mertz St. Mary's College of Maryland, 2006-2007      Malaria dates back about 4000 years. It has always been one of the world's most dangerous diseases. Malaria was once a worldwide problem, however today, with the recent developments of semi effective control methods, malaria is only a threat in tropical and developing regions of the world. Malaria is caused by a protozoan parasite, Plasmodium, which depends on vertebrates and the Anopheles female mosquito as its hosts to complete its full life cycle. With the discovery of the Cinchona bark and Qinghao having antimalarial activities, treatment of the disease is possible. Due to the natural process of evolution, however, the parasite has developed mechanisms to resist these treatments. In past efforts to control or eradicate malaria and Plasmodium species, the parasite was able to build tolerance to the many analogs of the herbal antimalarial compounds developed.
In this paper, I review the mechanism of the Plasmodium parasite lifecycle, the different drug mechanisms of action against the parasite and the mechanisms of resistance the parasite has developed in response to the drugs.