Malaria remains one of the most dreadful diseases affecting millions of
people across the world. It is an infectious disease spread through the (female
anopheles) mosquito caused by the parasitic protozoans belonging to genus
Plasmodium. The most lethal species is Plasmodium falciparum which if left untreated,
may cause organ failures (severe malaria) or may accumulate in brain (cerebral
malaria) causing coma and finally leading to the death. The disease is mostly prevalent
in Sub-Saharan Africa. Children under the age of 5 years, pregnant women and
travellers to the malaria prone area are particularly at higher risk of getting malaria. It
is typically diagnosed by microscopic examination of blood using blood film or
antigen-based rapid diagnostic tests. The treatment of malaria comprises various
synthetic, natural analogues administered orally or parenterally. The choice of
therapeutic agents depends on the species of parasite, pattern of resistance and the
seriousness of the infection.
Emergence and spread of the multidrug resistant strains of the causative organisms has
extremely limited the choice of antimalarial chemotherapeutics. Only limited treatment
options are currently available due to the resistant species highlighting the need of
efficient research for developing newer broad spectrum antimalarial drugs. The
discovery of potent vaccine against malaria still remains a major challenge amongst
scientific community, with only limited success achieved till now.
The choice of the delivery system plays a vital role in determining fate of the drug as
it’s not only important for delivering the right drug at the right site, but also it can
minimize the untoward effects of drugs. Nano-carriers or nanosystems are useful tools
that are particularly gaining distinctive attention in malaria chemotherapy because of
their ability to minimize the side effects, improve bioavailability and the selectivity of
the drugs by altering the biopharmaceutics and pharmacokinetic property of the drug
molecules.
Discovery of potent drugs like Arteether (ART) and Bulaquin have been some major
breakthroughs in antimalarial research. However; the major challenge in management of malaria in the current scenario is to combat drug resistance and to develop new
potent drugs in order to completely irradiate this fatal disease. This chapter is intended
to highlight on some basic aspects of malaria, challenges in current chemotherapy,
current investigations towards malaria chemotherapy and vaccine, and the use of
nanotechnology as a promising strategy for malaria treatment.
Keywords: Malaria, P. falciparum, P. vivax, Artemisinin, Cinchona, Drugresistance,
Malaria vaccine, Nanotechnology, Parasite.
