- Email: [email protected]
Treatment and Prevention of malaria
Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease (2013) 11, 70
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
journal homepage: www.elsevierhealth.com/journals/tmid
BOOK REVIEW Krishna, Staines, editors. Treatment and Prevention of malaria These are special times in malaria research, particularly in the field of chemotherapy. There were never so many antimalarial drugs available or so many promised new candidates on the horizon. There is also increasing awareness of the outstanding capacity of the malaria parasite, our old foe, to handle these challenges. Can we put all these facets in the context of a rebirth of the malaria eradication dream? With literally thousands of scientific reports emerging each year on the many aspects of the treatment of malaria, this present publication responds to this acute necessity. The book has a main theme: it keeps reminding us about the past e and the lessons that we should take from it e in the context of the future. The first landscape is charmingly served by the history of the discovery of quinine and the first case of resistance to this drug (with a most welcoming detailed account in English of the first Brazilian reports) (Chapter 3), the rise of Artemisinin starting from Ge Hong’s legendary works of 1500 years ago (Chapter 9), as well as the more recent events surrounding the emergence of resistance to this drug in South East Asia, presented by the original discoverer of the phenomenon (Chapter 11). The second aspect, the future, permeates the full book. This extensive focus includes, the new variants of the old 4-aminoquinoine mainstays (Chapter 2), the forthcoming liver stage targeting drugs like Tafenoquine (Chapter 4), the repurposing of anticancer antifolates towards malaria (Chapter 6), the emergence of new antibiotic-based alternatives like Fosmidomycin (Chapter 8), or the all important generation of novel peroxides, including the OZ series of compounds (Chapter 10). This sequence of essays elegantly peak in chapter 12 with a fascinating account on the present Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) pipeline of future anti-malarial candidates.
This chapter guides the book towards the question on what to do with this knowledge. How to come out of the research closet? Accordingly, the focus moves to the concept of genetic markers as sentinel tools for resistance (Chapter 12), the present and future of prophylaxis (Chapter 13) and the importance of point of care diagnostics (Chapter 14). All chapters are clear, written with an obvious sense of making this book genuinely useful. The overlap in themes between chapters is kept to a minimum and is usually used for giving a different perspective on the issue under attention. Importantly, no cases are evident of self-indulging prose that e more frequently then wished e plague this type of publication. Clear, concise but comprehensive (>1000 references), and actually fun to read, this is an important book. It represents a valuable source of inspiration for seasoned researchers in the area, while giving a complete set of roadmap information to neophytes entering the fascinating and fast moving world of antimalaria drug research. As a learning instrument it is worthy shelf companion of timelessly useful darlings, like the monumentally detailed series of W. Peters on the chemotherapy of the disease, when monotherapy was king. Enthusiastically recommended.
Conflict of interest None declared.
1477-8939/$ - see front matter ª 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2013.01.007
J. Pedro Gil Drug Resistance Unit, Division of Pharmacogenetics, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinka Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden E-mail address: [email protected] 25 January 2013
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
journal homepage: www.elsevierhealth.com/journals/tmid
BOOK REVIEW Krishna, Staines, editors. Treatment and Prevention of malaria These are special times in malaria research, particularly in the field of chemotherapy. There were never so many antimalarial drugs available or so many promised new candidates on the horizon. There is also increasing awareness of the outstanding capacity of the malaria parasite, our old foe, to handle these challenges. Can we put all these facets in the context of a rebirth of the malaria eradication dream? With literally thousands of scientific reports emerging each year on the many aspects of the treatment of malaria, this present publication responds to this acute necessity. The book has a main theme: it keeps reminding us about the past e and the lessons that we should take from it e in the context of the future. The first landscape is charmingly served by the history of the discovery of quinine and the first case of resistance to this drug (with a most welcoming detailed account in English of the first Brazilian reports) (Chapter 3), the rise of Artemisinin starting from Ge Hong’s legendary works of 1500 years ago (Chapter 9), as well as the more recent events surrounding the emergence of resistance to this drug in South East Asia, presented by the original discoverer of the phenomenon (Chapter 11). The second aspect, the future, permeates the full book. This extensive focus includes, the new variants of the old 4-aminoquinoine mainstays (Chapter 2), the forthcoming liver stage targeting drugs like Tafenoquine (Chapter 4), the repurposing of anticancer antifolates towards malaria (Chapter 6), the emergence of new antibiotic-based alternatives like Fosmidomycin (Chapter 8), or the all important generation of novel peroxides, including the OZ series of compounds (Chapter 10). This sequence of essays elegantly peak in chapter 12 with a fascinating account on the present Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) pipeline of future anti-malarial candidates.
This chapter guides the book towards the question on what to do with this knowledge. How to come out of the research closet? Accordingly, the focus moves to the concept of genetic markers as sentinel tools for resistance (Chapter 12), the present and future of prophylaxis (Chapter 13) and the importance of point of care diagnostics (Chapter 14). All chapters are clear, written with an obvious sense of making this book genuinely useful. The overlap in themes between chapters is kept to a minimum and is usually used for giving a different perspective on the issue under attention. Importantly, no cases are evident of self-indulging prose that e more frequently then wished e plague this type of publication. Clear, concise but comprehensive (>1000 references), and actually fun to read, this is an important book. It represents a valuable source of inspiration for seasoned researchers in the area, while giving a complete set of roadmap information to neophytes entering the fascinating and fast moving world of antimalaria drug research. As a learning instrument it is worthy shelf companion of timelessly useful darlings, like the monumentally detailed series of W. Peters on the chemotherapy of the disease, when monotherapy was king. Enthusiastically recommended.
Conflict of interest None declared.
1477-8939/$ - see front matter ª 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2013.01.007
J. Pedro Gil Drug Resistance Unit, Division of Pharmacogenetics, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinka Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden E-mail address: [email protected] 25 January 2013