| A
common, inexpensive antiseptic found in mouthwash, toothpaste, skin
creams and deodorants kills the parasites responsible for malaria.
As many as 400 million people worldwide suffer from malaria, which
kills an estimated 3,000 people, mostly children, daily. Unfortunately,
the parasites that cause malaria are developing resistance to the
few re-maining effective anti-malarial drugs. Two researchers at
the Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research in
Bangalore, India, found that an injection of the antiseptic triclosan
kills malaria even at very low concentrations. The investigators
say tri-closan blocks an enzyme the parasites need to help make
their cell membranes. They reported their results in the journal
Nature Medicine. Other research teams in the United States and the
United Kingdom reporting in the International Journal for Parasitology
found that triclosan also kills the parasite responsible for toxoplasmosis,
a disease that can cause devastating problems for unborn children
or those with weakened immune systems. |
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