nitrite

A paper published twenty years ago should have attracted more attention (NM Anstey et al., J Exp Med 1996, 184, 557-567) : the suppression of NO synthesis in cerebral malaria appears to enhance pathogenesis and increased NO synthesis protects against clinical disease. The work was based on in vivo results obtained in Tanzanian children. Already five years earlier the killing of Plasmodium falciparum in vitro by nitric oxide derivatives (NO, nitrite, nitrate) had been demonstrated (KA Rockett et al., Infection and Immunity, 1991, 59, 3280-3283).