Viagra makes it hard for malaria parasites to spread, study shows

 

 

It looks like Viagra has much bigger benefits than just erections.

 

The sex drug's stiffening powers are key to a new treatment seeking to prevent the transmission of malaria parasites from humans to mosquitoes, thereby stopping the microorganism from spreading to other people.

 

The erection drug effectively stiffens Plasmodium falciparum, the parasitic microorganism responsible for malaria, making infected blood cells rigid enough to be trapped in the spleen, according to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

 

The study was conducted in collaboration with the CNRS, INSERM, Université Paris Descartes at the Institut Cochin and the Institut Pasteur.

 

Blocking malaria transmission

 

“In this new study we show that Viagra, a drug shown to be safe in humans, can make the sexual forms of the malaria parasite stiff," said study co-author David Baker, Professor of Malaria Parasite Biology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

 

"This causes them to be inactivated in the spleen and so prevents transmission of the sexual malaria parasites to mosquitoes. This is an interesting proof of concept which gives us hope that new drugs could be developed that specifically target the malaria parasite phosphodiesterase enzymes and block malaria transmission,” he added.

 

Life cycle of a parasite

 

Plasmodium falciparum's developmental cycle is partially completed in humans and partially in the mosquito.

 

When in humans, the parasite inhabits red blood cells (erythrocytes) in an asexual form. These blood cells burst and some of the parasites continue infecting and bursting more cells.

 

Some parasites re-enter red blood cells to develop into male and female forms, and deform the blood cell into a crescent shape that slips undetected past the spleen, which usually acts as a blood filter to screen out diseased cells.

 

Upon maturing, the microorganism can circulate in the blood and pass back to the mosquito when it bites an infected human.  — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News