Control of Malaria by Blocking Transmission of Plasmodium

Malaria is a major global health problem with the greatest burden in sub-Saharan Africa (sSA). Unfortunately, Nigeria accounts for 25 percent of the world’s malaria burden and it accounts for more deaths than HIV/AIDS. The causative agent of malaria is plasmodium species. This paper reviews the current approaches to inhibiting plasmodium transmission, and the phyto active compound currently in use in the sSA (particularly in Nigeria) with the goal to ameliorate the high incidence of malaria and to correlating it with recent progress and scientific understanding.

Using search engines, several databases including Google scholar, Pub Med, Academic Resource Index, Scopus, etcetera, were utilized to source for relevant publications and literatures.

The complex life cycle of the Plasmodium species (causative agent of malaria) gives room for measures that can disrupt its completion. Several methods are currently being tested and experimented on to disrupt the parasite transmission. The disruption of a cell surface transport protein, Feline Leukemia Virus subgroup C Receptor (FLVCR) that pumps heme out of the cell; Gene silencing-techniques used to reduce the levels of FLVCR in the mosquito gut; Prevention of the interaction between the plasmodium TRAP and the Anopheles Saglin protein, which aid the malaria parasite invasion of the mosquito salivary gland; Prevention of the Interaction of Surface Enolase and Plasminogen of Mammalian Blood, disrupting an important role in ookinete invasion of the mosquito midgut; the use of Plants with antimicrobial peptides(cyclotide), that possess structural similarities to SM1 peptide, an inhibitor of plasmodium TRAP-saglin binding;and Use of Phyto-Active Compounds to Block Plasmodium Transmission. These approaches are novel methods in the control and transmission of plasmodium species/malaria.

Chemically, phytochemicals with structural similarities to artemisinin, (asesquiteterpene lactone containing an unusual peroxide bridge) is thought of to be present in certain plants with antimalarial and other medicinal value.