E-drug: News on malaria
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http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/27/health/anatomy/27REME.html
November 27, 2001
[Copied as fair use. KM]
Remedies: Keeping Malaria at Bay, With Garlic
By ERIC NAGOURNEY
Two recent reports at a tropical disease conference focused on malaria,
which kills 1.5 million to 2.7 million people a year.
In the first report, researchers said they had discovered that compounds in
garlic known as disulfides could fight both malaria and cancer.
Experts have suspected for years that disulfides, also found in onions,
might fight malaria, and disulfides have been shown effective in animals.
Ian E. Crandall of the University of Toronto, who presented the study, said
he wanted to improve the understanding of how disulfides work.
After testing 11 different disulfide compounds, he found that not all of
them had an effect on malaria. But those that did kill the parasites that
cause malaria, he said, also killed cancer cells. People in malaria- ridden
countries might get some benefit from eating garlic, Mr. Crandall said.
The second report described a possible solution to the widespread problem of
counterfeit malaria drugs. Scientists from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention said they had come up with a simple way to detect bogus
drugs.
A hand-held kit, which costs less than $100, is used to crush a tablet,
dissolve it in alcohol and then measure its specific gravity, to see if
matches that of the real drug.
Both reports were presented this month in Atlanta to the American Society of
Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
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