Haldi guard

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore have found that curcumin, isolated from turmeric, kills malaria parasites. On the basis of its finding, the team, led by biochemist Govindarajan Pandmanabhan, has proposed to the World Health Organisation a novel artemisinin-curcumin therapy to treat malaria. The scientists have been granted a US patent for the invention which could potentially bring down the cost of treating malaria, especially the resistant variety. Artemisinin, obtained from the common Artemisia weed, is the last defence against drug resistant malarial parasites. But using artemisinin alone has the danger of that drug also becoming useless in due course. So, WHO has been studying the use of artemisinin in combination with other drugs. Padmanabhan said that animal studies done in his laboratory have proved that a curcumin-artemisinin combination is very effective against malaria. Their report is due to appear in the May issue of the journal Clinical Therapeutics.