There could soon be a new malaria treatment for kids. The single-dose medication could be a new weapon in defeating the deadly illness.
Australian regulators approved the simple drug combination to treat malaria in children aged 2 to 16. It opens the door for other countries to approve the treatment.
Malaria affects millions of people every year, making it one of the deadliest infectious diseases. It kills hundreds of thousands every year. In 2020, malaria caused the death of more than 600,000 people. The majority of those deaths in Africa were children under the age of 5, making up 80 percent of deaths in Africa. In 2019, there were 229 million new infections, and close to 560,000 deaths.
The majority of deaths from malaria happen in sub-Saharan Africa. It’s home to a form of the malaria parasite “Plasmodium falciparum.” Malaria rapidly changes in the body and takes multiple forms. It hides in the blood, and can also hide in the liver.
There has been headway over the past few years in finding a treatment. In 2018, the FDA approved the use of tafenoquine to treat people over the age of 15.
Now, Australian regulators have approved a single dose of tafenoquine, the brand name being Kozenis, administered along with traditional chloroquine treatment. The treatment goes after malaria in order to offset the first symptoms, which include fevers, headaches, and chills. It also targets the disease in the liver to prevent a recurrence.
Medicines for Malaria Venture, a nonprofit that helped to develop the drug, made the announcement Monday.
The drug will now be submitted for approval in nine countries that are home to malaria-endemics, as well as for approval by the World Health Organization. The approval could save thousands of children from dying from malaria every year.
Scientists are already calling it a “radical cure.”
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