New Breakthrough Treatment of Malaria

A large-scale prevention program by distributing anti-malarial drugs are intermitan (criss-cross) was significantly successful in reducing the number of cases of this disease among children during the peak malaria transmission season, according to early results of the project an international medical humanitarian organization MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders).
Through a Seasonal Malaria Prevention Intervention, drugs have been given anti-malarial drugs as an antidote to the approximately 175,000 children under five aged between three and five years in the Koutiala, Mali, and in two areas Moissala, Chad. Children under five, including those most vulnerable to death from malaria. Preliminary results showed a decrease in the intervention more than 2/3 cases of mild malaria in Mali and 86 percent decline in Chad. The number of higher declines also occurred in the case of severe malaria.
"While waiting for the results of the evaluation of the impact of the implementation of the Malaria Prevention Intervention Seasonal more detail, it is interesting to see the impact on public health in which the initial results have shown reduction in the number of malaria cases significantly," explains Dr. Estrella Lasry, malaria specialist for MSF in a press release to KOMPAS.com, Monday (24/09/2012).
"The bottom line is that there is evidence of correlation of our intervention in which more than half the number of beds in hospitals and children are usually 100 percent full during the malaria season in Mali are now empty - something that has never happened before," he added.
The World Health Organization WHO recommends Seasonal Malaria Prevention Interventions in March, following a peneletian conducted in several countries in the Sahel region of Africa known to have the highest number of cases of malaria and severe. Seasonal Malaria Prevention Intervention consisted of efforts to provide comprehensive antimalaria drugs alternately during the peak malaria season. Different types of drugs are also used to address the malaria-positive patients.
 MSF project was launched in July 2012 and will take place during the peak malaria transmission season until October. This project marks the first time that MSF did Seasonal Malaria Prevention Intervention massive. Once a month, about 165 000 children in Mali, as well as 10,000 in Chad received a total of 3 tablets of amodiaquine and one sulphadoxine / pyrimethamine for 3 days per month. The children who had contracted malaria during Seasonal Malaria Prevention Intervention and distribution of medicines received artemisinin-based drugs, and not entered into the Seasonal Malaria Prevention Intervention program.
The areas in Mali and Chad have made the trial of resistance to drugs Seasonal Malaria Prevention Intervention before the intervention. No cases of resistance on the sample testing. Resistance surveys will be conducted on a regular basis in Koutiala and Moissala.
In Mali, MSF teams found 65 percent decline in mild cases of malaria since the first weeks of drug distribution and Malaria Prevention Intervention Seasonal done. In addition, the number of severe cases that require hospitalization in various hospitals plummeted from an average of 247 cases per week to 84. In southern Chad, the results are very encouraging, two regional bases in Moïssala malaria cases decreased between 72 to 86 percent compared to the weeks before Seasonal Malaria Prevention Intervention and implemented drug distribution.
"This intervention strategy could be a major breakthrough tool in public health, especially to protect children who typically have the highest mortality rate due to malaria," Dr. Lasry added.
According to MSF, other methods such as the distribution of malaria prevention mosquito nets, insecticide spraying, as well as integrated diagnosis and treatment of malaria should be continued in malaria endemic countries. WHO study found that approximately 650,000 people die each year from malaria. Ninety percent of cases occur in sub-Saharan Africa and the majority among children.



Source: http://health.kompas.com/read/2012/09/25/1933220/