For the longest time, malaria has been one of the leading killer diseases in the world. The spread of malaria is mainly through bites by female Anopheles mosquitoes. Over the years, the plasmodium parasites have developed resistance to the treatment methods that have been advanced to cure malaria. The resistance to the drugs has always slowed down the fight against malaria and jolted scientists back to their drawing boards. The artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) is, however, one of the few treatment methods that have proved its effectiveness in curing malaria.
In the ACT, artemisinin-based compounds are used together with a drug from a different class, for example, lumefantrine. ACT has proved its effectiveness in treating uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria and has been championed as a first-line treatment by the World Health Organization (WHO). One of the effects of ACT on malaria is that it helps to cure the disease rapidly. ACT has a high parasite killing rate. The period taken to clear the plasmodium parasite has been found to be shorter when using ACT than when other treatment types are used (Pousibet-Puerto et al., 2016). Administration of ACT in malaria treatment has also been documented to result in decreased hospital stays, unlike when other treatment types are used.
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Another of the effects of ACT on malaria is that it helps curb its transmission (Humphreys, 2014). The rapid action of the ACT in killing the Plasmodium parasites helps ensure that patients are rapidly cured and thus decrease the infectious reservoir (WHO, n.d.). Consequently, the spread of the disease to other individuals is significantly reduced. Similarly, the spread of drug-resistant malaria parasites is stemmed.
Conclusively, ACT has proved its usefulness in curbing Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Various bodies, including the WHO champion for the use of ACT due to its effectiveness, fast action and decreased probability of resistance developing.
References
Humphreys, G. (2014). The effect of artemisinin-combination treatment options on P. falciparum gametocyte carriage: a pooled analysis of individual patient data. Malaria Journal , 13 (S1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-13-s1-p44
Pousibet-Puerto, J., Salas-Coronas, J., Sánchez-Crespo, A., Molina-Arrebola, M., Soriano-Pérez, M., & Giménez-López, M. et al. (2016). Impact of using artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) in the treatment of uncomplicated malaria from Plasmodium falciparum in a non-endemic zone. Malaria Journal , 15 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-016-1408-1
The World Health Organization (WHO). Treating malaria . World Health Organization. Retrieved 24 November 2020, from https://www.who.int/activities/treating-malaria .
