Phytochemical Allicin, the Anti Malaria bioactive Compound, Scientists Say

By Kyle J. Norton

Scientists may have found a natural ingredient with a similar effect as that of antibiotics for the treatment of malaria with no side effects, according to studies.

Malaria, a mosquito-borne infectious disease caused by parasitic protozoans.

According to the statistic, malaria is one of the most common diseases in Nigeria, affecting over 97% of Nigeria's population. There are an estimated 100 million malaria cases with over 300,000 deaths per year.

Symptoms of malaria tend to occur in cycles, which correspond to the life cycle of the parasite. Most common symptoms include headaches, fatigue, muscle aches, and gastrointestinal discomforts including diarrhea. 

In severe cases, patients with malaria may also experience symptoms of shortness of breath caused by fluid in the lungs and expanded abdomen caused by enlarged spleen hypoglycemia and liver diseases such as jaundice and low blood glucose.

Immune deficiency, pregnant women, newborn baby are prone to the disease if they are bitten by an infected mosquito. 

However, some researchers suggested that where you live may be one of the major risks for the disease onset.

Dr. Wulung Hanandita, the lead scientists in the concern of geography and social distribution of malaria in Indonesian, wrote, "rural Papuans, as well as those who live in poor, densely forested, lowland districts, are at a higher risk of infection than their counterparts. We also find age and gender differentials in malaria prevalence, if only to a small degree".

These results clearly suggested that if you are poor, and live in densely forested, lowland districts (away from the urban world), you are at the increased risk of malaria.

Allicin is phytochemical containing sulfur in the class of organosulfur compound, found abundantly in onion and garlic.

In the concern of widespread malaria infection in the third world where antibiotics are scarce, researchers urgently looked into allicin, the major biologically active component of garlic which has been found to exert a similar effect as that of the Western medicine with no side effects.

On protozoan parasites including Plasmodium, injection of allicin reduced parasitemia and prolonged survival of the host in a dose-dependent manner by improving the host immune responses.

During the experiment, researchers discovered the efficacy of allicin against the tested parasites was attributed to the bioactive compound in stimulating the production of pro inflammatory cytokines.

The numbers of white blood cells such as macrophages were significantly higher in allicin-treated mice.

The promotion of proinflammatory cytokine and immune response by allicin did reduce the function of anti-inflammatory cytokines during the course of the test.

In other words, allicin protects the host against P. yoelii 17XL through enhancement of the host innate and adaptive immune responses.

Furthermore, examining the effect of allicin on sporozoites, researchers found that at low concentrations, allicin was not toxic to either sporozoites or mammalian cells.

In vitro, at these low concentrations, allicin inhibited the circumsporozoite protein (CSP) processing and prevented sporozoite invasion of host cells.

Mice injected with allicin had decreased Plasmodium infections and prevented malaria infection compared to controls.

Moreover, a 4-day regimen of allicin administered either orally or intravenously significantly decreased parasitemias and increased the survival of infected mice by 10 days.

Dr. Coppi A the lead scientist on the final reports said, "these experiments demonstrate that the same cysteine protease inhibitor can target two different life cycle stages in the vertebrate host".

Taken altogether, the results strongly suggested that phytochemical allicin may be considered an alternative antibiotic for the prevention and combined with the primary medicine for the treatment of malaria induced by parasite infection.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.
References
(1) Allicin enhances host pro-inflammatory immune responses and protects against acute murine malaria infection by Feng Y, Zhu X, Wang Q, Jiang Y, Shang H, Cui L, Cao Y.(PubMed)
(2) Antimalarial activity of allicin, a biologically active compound from garlic cloves by Coppi A, Cabinian M, Mirelman D, Sinnis P.(PubMed)
(3) Geography and social distribution of malaria in Indonesian Papua: a cross-sectional study by Wulung Hanandita and Gindo Tampubolon. (PMC)