New Drug Wipes Out Malaria In A Single Dose — But There’s One Hitch

“The world now has a potent, new weapon against malaria — one that can wipe out the parasite from a person’s body with a single dose.

But before many people around the world can use it, scientists have to overcome a big obstacle.

On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a drug to cure a type of malaria that’s been hard to stop. Called Plasmodium vivax, the parasite can hide out in a person’s liver for months and cause multiple rounds of malaria — even after being treated. Some people can have more than a dozen lapses.

The drug — called tafenoquine (branded in the U.S. as Krintafel) — prevents malaria relapses by about 70 percent, clinical studies have shown.”

Read more: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/07/26/631922706/new-drug-wipes-out-malaria-in-a-single-dose-but-theres-one-hitch

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