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AN ANTIBACTERIAL agent that is one of the ingredients in mouthwashes and
deodorants may double as an anti-malarial drug, say Indian researchers. They
have discovered that malaria parasites use a novel biochemical pathway targeted
by the chemical. Because human cells don’t share this pathway, the discovery
“could lead to a new class of anti-malarial agents”, says James Beeson of the
University of Melbourne.

Namita Surolia and Avadhesha Surolia of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for
Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore gave infected mice daily injections of
the antibacterial agent triclosan. After four days at the highest dose the
number of parasites in their blood dropped to zero, and the treated mice were
far more likely to survive. The chemical also killed human malarial parasites
growing in the lab, including a strain resistant to the malaria drug
chloroquine.

Triclosan interferes with an enzyme that plants and bacteria need to make
fatty acids, molecules which help build cell membranes. The Surolias’ tests show
that malaria parasites use the same pathway. “You can hit this pathway [with
drugs] and you are not going to affect the pathway in humans,” says Namita
Surolia.

Around 2 million people a year die from malaria, and resistance to common
anti-malarials makes the disease increasingly difficult to control. Human safety
trials of triclosan are on the drawing board, but it will take years to show
that drugs targeting the new pathway work for people. And only further tests
will prove conclusively that drug-resistant malaria will succumb to the new
drug, says Namita Surolia.