A report on Artemisinin, Malaria, Artemisia annua and Tu Youyou

Artemisinin and its semisynthetic derivatives are a group of drugs used in the treatment of malaria due to Plasmodium falciparum.

It was discovered in 1972 by Tu Youyou, who shared the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discovery.

An extract of A. annua, called artemisinin (or artesunate), is a medication used to treat malaria.

She discovered artemisinin (also known as qīnghāosù, 青蒿素) and dihydroartemisinin, used to treat malaria, a breakthrough in twentieth-century tropical medicine, saving millions of lives in South China, Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America.

Discovery of artemisinin and its antimalarial properties by the Chinese scientist, Tu Youyou, led to award of the 2011 Lasker Prize and 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Artemisinin is extracted from the plant Artemisia annua, sweet wormwood, a herb employed in Chinese traditional medicine.

The recommended treatment for malaria is a combination of antimalarial medications that includes artemisinin.

One compound was effective, sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua), which was used for "intermittent fevers," a hallmark of malaria.

The medicinal value of Artemisia annua has been used by Chinese herbalists in traditional Chinese medicines for 2,000 years.

Artemisinins, discovered by Chinese scientist Tu Youyou and colleagues in the 1970s from the plant Artemisia annua, became the recommended treatment for P. falciparum malaria, administered in severe cases in combination with other antimalarials.