INVITRO ANTI MALARIAL POTENTIAL OF CHROZOPHORA SENEGALENSIS EXTRACTS ON CYSTEINE PROTEASE OF PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM

INVITRO ANTI MALARIAL POTENTIAL OF CHROZOPHORA SENEGALENSIS EXTRACTS ON CYSTEINE PROTEASE OF PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM

CHAPTER ONE

1.0         INTRODUCTION

Malaria, a mosquito-borne disease is global. It is caused by a parasite in the blood called Plasmodia. Five species of this genus are implicated in human malaria, of which the most deadly is Plasmodium falciparum. They are usually transmitted via the bite of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. The disease is mainly characterized by fever in uncomplicated cases but can develop into severe malaria as soon as 24 hours after it first appears (Trampuz et al., 2003). Malaria is an Infectious disease that continues to be associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. It was estimated that there were over 300 million cases of malaria every year in developing countries especially in Africa Sub-Sahara (90%) and other developing countries.

Malaria kills over one million people a year-mainly children under five years and pregnant women (Christopher, 2002). Malaria is a major health problem in Nigeria. It constitutes 30% of all attendance to health facilities. It is the main cause of hospital death and the failure of malaria control is largely due to the increasing parasite resistance to chloroquine and vector resistance to insecticides used (Roll Back Malaria, 2002). In all malaria endemic countries, plants are used in traditional medicine for treatment of the disease. Examples are numerous with the urgent need to develop new, safe and effective drugs against malaria. Plants may provide such drugs directly as with quinine from Cinchona bark or artemisinine from the Chinese herb Artemisia annual and/or they may provide template molecules on which to base further novel structures by organic synthesis.

In some rural areas of Nigeria, antimalarial traditional medicines are even preferred to pharmaceutical compound drugs, suggesting that the herbal preparations used by traditional healers contain useful active ingredients. Many gaps still remain to fully exploit the potential of herbal medicines as a solution to the malaria burden and this demands combined efforts from public sector, research institutions, funding bodies and pharmaceutical groups, traditional healers, and the populations themselves.

INVITRO ANTI MALARIAL POTENTIAL OF CHROZOPHORA SENEGALENSIS EXTRACTS ON CYSTEINE PROTEASE OF PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM