Diseases, tropical drug-resistant

Doctors did not anticipate the development of drug-resistant malaria and tuberculosis. The emergence of Legionnaire s disease, Lyme disease, AIDS, Hantavirus, and Ebola virus was not anticipated. Most drug companies are still unwilling to tackle tropical diseases because they fear that the poor people afflicted with the diseases will not be able to pay for the drugs.12... 

Malaria affects an estimated 270 million people and causes 2—3 million deaths annually, approximately one million of which occur in children under the age of five. While primarily an affliction of the tropics and subtropics, it has occurred as far north as the Arctic Circle. The disease essentially has been eradicated in most temperate-zone countries, but some 1100 cases of malaria in U.S. citizens returning from abroad were reported to the Centers for Disease Control during 1990. Malaria is seen today in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Central and South America. It is on the increase in Afghanistan, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Sri. Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. Escalation of the disease is because of the discontinued use of the insecticide DDT which effectively kills mosquito larvae, but has been found to be toxic to livestock and wildlife. Also, chloroquine (6), a reliable drug for the prophylaxis and treatment of falciparum malaria, is ineffective in many parts of the world because of the spread of drug-resistant strains. 

Quinidine (6) and quinine (7) are diastereomeric quinoline alkaloids obtained from Cinchona spp. Quinidine (6) is included in many pharmacopeias for its antiarrhythmic effects.Quinine was the first antimalarial drug and served as an effective remedy for this deadly infectious disease in colonial times, making European settlement in many tropical and subtropical parts of the world possible.Owing to the development of resistance to synthetic antimalarials, quinine is still reverted to some extent for this... 

Malaria has been described as the world s greatest public health problem. It is caused by one of several strains of the Plasmodium protozoan, a one-celled parasite that is transmitted by the bite of the Anopheles mosquito. Hundreds of millions of persons are struck by malaria each year, resulting in 1-3 million deaths annually, primarily in children under five-years-old in sub-Saharan Africa, where 90% of malaria deaths occur. Malaria has essentially been eradicated in North America, Europe, and Russia, although infected travelers and immigrants can reintroduce the disease if bitten by an infected mosquito. Malaria is on the increase worldwide and presents a major burden for tropical communities and travelers, particularly in areas where the parasite has evolved resistance to the drugs used to treat it. 

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