December 24, 2007

Cucumbers used to treat malaria

It seem that there could be an unlikely source to a potential treatment for malaria, this source is the weird looking sea cucumber, a prickly orange coloured sea creature that could hold the key to this disease.

The sea cucumber produces various proteins that actually stop the growth of parasites, and it is this protein that could help malaria patients recover from the disease.

Malaria is a very serious illness which affects over five hundred million people worldwide and kills over one million, this is why research team like the one that Prof. Bob Sinden from the Imperial College in London have develop genetically engineered mosquitoes which will also produce the same protein and thereby prevent the parasites from breeding in the insects stomach and so preventing transfer.

Source [BBC News]