Bark, Weeds, and Iron Chelators — Drugs for Malaria

Over the millennia that humanity has struggled against malaria, some successes in controlling this scourge have been achieved from time to time through both empirical efforts and rational design. The development in the early 1970s of methods to cultivate Plasmodium falciparum in vitro 1 was a major breakthrough because it facilitated studies of parasite metabolism that could lead to novel strategies for designing treatments. In this issue of the Journal , Gordeuk and colleagues report the results of a clinical trial of iron-chelation therapy in children with cerebral malaria. 2 This trial is an example of the practical application of knowledge obtained . . .