A report on Artemisinin and Artesunate

Figure 1. Biosynthesis of Artemisinin
Artemisia annua

It is in the artemisinin class of medication.

- Artesunate

For severe malaria, the WHO recommends intravenous or intramuscular treatment with the artemisinin derivative artesunate for at least 24 hours.

- Artemisinin
Figure 1. Biosynthesis of Artemisinin

5 related topics with Alpha

Overall

Antimalarial medication

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Antimalarial medications or simply antimalarials are a type of antiparasitic chemical agent, often naturally derived, that can be used to treat or to prevent malaria, in the latter case, most often aiming at two susceptible target groups, young children and pregnant women.

Antimalarial medications or simply antimalarials are a type of antiparasitic chemical agent, often naturally derived, that can be used to treat or to prevent malaria, in the latter case, most often aiming at two susceptible target groups, young children and pregnant women.

As of 2018, modern treatments, including for severe malaria, continued to depend on therapies deriving historically from quinine and artesunate, both parenteral (injectable) drugs, expanding from there into the many classes of available modern drugs.

Incidence and distribution of the disease ("malaria burden") is expected to remain high, globally, for many years to come; moreover, known antimalarial drugs have repeatedly been observed to elicit resistance in the malaria parasite—including for combination therapies featuring artemisinin, a drug of last resort, where resistance has now been observed in Southeast Asia.

Artemisia annua

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Common type of wormwood native to temperate Asia, but naturalized in many countries including scattered parts of North America.

Common type of wormwood native to temperate Asia, but naturalized in many countries including scattered parts of North America.

Artemisia annua
Seeds

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

Artemether

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Medication used for the treatment of malaria.

Medication used for the treatment of malaria.

In adults, it may not be as effective as artesunate.

It is in the artemisinin class of medication.

Quinine

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Medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis.

Medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis.

Tonic water, in normal light and ultraviolet "black light". The quinine content of tonic water causes it to fluoresce under black light.
Quinine biosynthesis
19th-century illustration of Cinchona calisaya

This includes the treatment of malaria due to Plasmodium falciparum that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available.

They recommend that it be used only when artemisinins are not available.

Seeds

Dihydroartemisinin

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Drug used to treat malaria.

Drug used to treat malaria.

Seeds

Dihydroartemisinin is the active metabolite of all artemisinin compounds (artemisinin, artesunate, artemether, etc.) and is also available as a drug in itself.