New antimalarial drugs: a search based on plants used in popular medicine to treat fever and malaria

RESUMO

This presentation will be divided into three parts1-the ongoing situation of human mataria in the Brazilian Amazon, where it is endemic, causing over 500,000 new cases each year; 2 - approaches our group used to find new drugs to treat mataria through experimental models and using medicinal or randomly selected plants; and 3 - our results with extracts or molecules showing antimalarial activities against the blood stages, as well as with one plant active against sporozoites. The latter, a plant used for prophylaxis, is known as "Indian beer" and grows on the margins of the Amazon River. Totally inactive against the blood-stage parasites in mice and chickens and against the human Plasmodium falciparum malaria in cultures, it is active against the sporozoites in chicken mataria. Purification of the active molecule(s) from fresh plants, now in progress, as well as clinical trials for the validation of its popular use in Brazil, are needed.