Malaria: biochemical, physiological, diagnostic, and therapeutic updates

PeerJ. 2024 Mar 22:12:e17084. doi: 10.7717/peerj.17084. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Background: Malaria has been appraised as a significant vector-borne parasitic disease with grave morbidity and high-rate mortality. Several challenges have been confronting the efficient diagnosis and treatment of malaria.

Method: Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, and the Egyptian Knowledge Bank (EKB) were all used to gather articles.

Results: Diverse biochemical and physiological indices can mirror complicated malaria e.g., hypoglycemia, dyslipidemia, elevated renal and hepatic functions in addition to the lower antioxidant capacity that does not only destroy the parasite but also induces endothelial damage. Multiple trials have been conducted to improve recent points of care in malaria involving biosensors, lap on-chip, and microdevices technology. Regarding recent therapeutic trials, chemical falcipain inhibitors and plant extracts with anti-plasmodial activities are presented. Moreover, antimalaria nano-medicine and the emergence of nanocarrier (either active or passive) in drug transportation are promising. The combination therapeutic trials e.g., amodiaquine + artemether + lumefantrine are presented to safely counterbalance the emerging drug resistance in addition to the Tafenoquine as a new anti-relapse therapy.

Conclusion: Recognizing the pathophysiology indices potentiate diagnosis of malaria. The new points of care can smartly manipulate the biochemical and hematological alterations for a more sensitive and specific diagnosis of malaria. Nano-medicine appeared promising. Chemical and plant extracts remain points of research.

Keywords: Biochemical; Combination treatment; Malaria; Nanomedicine; Physiological; Plant extract; Point of care.

MeSH terms

  • Antimalarials* / therapeutic use
  • Artemisinins*
  • Humans
  • Malaria* / diagnosis
  • Malaria, Falciparum* / drug therapy
  • Plant Extracts / therapeutic use

Substances

  • Antimalarials
  • Artemisinins
  • Plant Extracts

Grants and funding

The work was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University through large group Research Project under grant number RGP2/302/44. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.