Antimalarial agents currently used drugs

A connection between swampy areas and fever was made centuries ago, and the word malaria reflects the popular belief that the illness was caused by bad air (Italian, mol aria). During the sixteenth century, people discovered that the disease could be treated using quinine, a compound derived from the bark of the tropical Cinchona tree. No vaccine for malaria has yet been developed, although preliminary trials for an initial vaccine were scheduled to begin in malaria-endemic areas in late 2003. Currently, the synthetic agent chloroquine is the most widely used antimalarial drug it can clear nonre-sistant parasites from the blood in two to three days. 

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