What are the treatments of malaria and how do they work?
The anti-malarial drug of choice until the 1940s was called Quinine, and it is worth noting because today it is an ingredient found more commonly in foods then we think [11]. Quinine acts by inhibiting what’s called hemozoin biocrystallization, or the parasite’s way of making the by-products of red blood cell destruction less toxic for itself [11]. Thus, this drug facilitates an accumulation of cytotoxic heme [11]. The amount of toxic free heme builds up in the parasites, leading to their death [11]. The problem with increased cytotoxic heme is our own immune response to it, which parallels to a severe if not fatal fever reaction when the parasites unnaturally lyse are cells [11]. The Quechua Indians of Peru were the first to take the bark of the cinchona tree and use it for malaria treatment [11]. Today, it happens to be the flavour component of tonic water and bitter lemon [10]. As maintained by tradition, the bitter taste of anti-malarial quinine tonic led British colonials in India
