'Naturally occurring' malaria protection

A new study claims to have found a new way of protecting against malaria that occurs naturally within the body.

Research by scientists at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia in Portugal found that an anti-oxidant drug can be an effective tool in the fight against the disease.

Named heme-oxygenase-1 (HO-1), the ant-oxidant is a natural defence against the malaria parasite that is utilised when cells are infected.

Miguel Soares from the institute wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that harnessing this anti-oxidant could result in a change of strategy for health researchers.

"There might be alternative therapeutic approaches to treat malaria, which unlike the current ones would not aim at killing the parasite directly, but rather at strengthening the health status of the host," he said.

"Moreover, one might be able to apply the same strategy to a range of other infectious diseases and impact on the treatment of not only malaria but a variety of other infectious diseases."

Scientists in Kenya recently highlighted the risk of malaria developing in the womb.

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