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Scientists from
the University of Washington in Seattle have devised an innovative
strategy for destroying malaria parasites using an oscillating
magnetic field. If further studies confirm their findings
and their application in animals and people, this would be
an inexpensive and simple way to treat a disease that affects
500 million people every year, almost all in Third World countries.
Malaria parasites feed on the "globin"
part of hemoglobin, the pigment found in red blood cells.
But the parasites lack the enzyme necessary to break down
the iron-containing heme portion of hemoglobin -- and heme
is in fact toxic to them. In order to eliminate the toxic
effects of free heme, malaria parasites form hemozoins --
"quasi-crystalline" arrays of heme molecules.
In their study, the researchers took advantage
of the fact that these hemozoins act essentially as small
bar magnets, and can be shaken apart and again rendered toxic
to the parasite with a sufficient magnetic force. The investigators
exposed human red blood cells infected with the malaria parasite
to a magnetic field "just a little stronger than the
Earth's, the difference is that it is oscillating. Exposure
to the magnetic field reduced the number of parasites present
in blood by between 33% and 70%.
The next step is to determine if the oscillating
magnets can be safely used to treat malaria infection in animals
and humans. The researcher envisions rooms or trucks lined
with the magnets where patients can "sit and read"
while being treated for malaria infection. He added that this
strategy, if proven safe and effective, would have several
important advantages: the approach is "inexpensive and
simple," and it is unlikely that malaria parasites would
be able to develop resistance to magnetic fields.
University
of Washington March 2000
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