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Our association IFBV-BELHERB has received numerous anecdotic reports on the prophylactic effects of Artemisia plants. This effect has been documented in scientific papers. Patrick Ogwang from Uganda (Ogwang PE, et al. Trop J Pharm Res. 2012;11:445–53) showed that an infusion of Artemisia annua consumed once weekly reduced the risk of Plasmodium falciparum episodes due to a yet unidentified constituent.

Many constituents of medicinal herbs have a low bioavailabity, especially if administered orally. They do not pass the intestinal barrier. This is particularly the case for essential oils. A study (Ryuichi Fujisaki et al., www.tm.mahidol.ac.th/seameo/2012) of the in vitro and in vivo antiplasmodial activity of 47 essential oils showed that several have strong in vitro antiplasmodial activities, with IC50 values < 1.0 µg/ml. But notably these oils showed no efficacy when administered orally.

Folates combine three molecules : pretidine & para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) & glutamate. They were discovered around 1940 and first isolated from spinach leaves. The term folate is derived from the latin word folium.

The malaria parasite has a unique feature of being able to salvage exogenous folate derivatives and/or synthesize them de novo. Due to its high rate of replication, the parasite has a high demand for folates. Folate metabolism is the target of several antimalarials.

Upon infection of human erythrocytes, the phospholipid content of Plasmodium falciparum increases by at least 5 to 6-fold. The main molecules are phosphatidylinositol (PI), phosphatidylcholine (PC) and others. They are often called lecithin although this substance contains many other molecules

The human gut microbiota has become the subject of extensive research in recent years and our knowledge of the resident species and their potential functional capacity is rapidly growing. Our gut harbours a complex community of over 100 trillion microbial cells which influence human physiology, metabolism, nutrition and immune function while disruption to the gut microbiota has been linked with many diseases.

Lors de la conférence du 19 mai 2014 à l’Université du Nebraska qui portait sur le SIDA, F.A. Fehintola montrait que la nevapirine prescrite simultanément avec l’artemether-lumefantrine (Coartem) réduisait de 70% la concentration du principe actif lumefantrine dans le sang infecté.

Ceci ne fait que confirmer des résultats obtenus en Afrique du Sud (T Kredo , Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2011 Dec; 55(12):5616-23). L’artemether et la nevapirine sont métabolisés par le cytochrome P450 3A4 induit par la nevapirine.