Malaria - Alternative Treatments

mira4bai4

From reading through the various threads on Malaria many would have noticed a few alternatives popping up for the treatment of Malaria as opposed to the Allopathic treatments with the various tablets and their various side effects. Obviously everything has some level of side effect and some level of effectiveness or not as the case may be, it comes down to the consumer being able to say what they are comfortable with bearing in mind the risks and their personal preferences.

So for the sake of an interesting thread on the subject of Alternative Malaria Treatments, the following have so far been mentioned and it would be good to know of more and of course some very good links to up to date information about the practical use and the effectiveness of the alternatives.

Qinghao - Artimisinin - Wormwood

Neem - Azadirachta indica

Boneset

Homoeopathic China 6 and Malaraia 30

Wild African Cucumber - Cucumus Africanos

mira4bai4

Well I thought that there may be at least some interest in not so toxic malaria treatments but maybe people are waiting for someone to go first.

Here are a few links that may be of interest.

Demal200
More Demal200
Malaria Treatment Update
Homoeopathic Cinchona
Artemisinin
Indian Herbal Malaria Treatment
Artemesia Capsule
Malaria Ayurvedic Treatment
X-Malaria
Artemether Tablets
African Cucumber
Sweet Wormwood

I am sure that there is more info out there depending on the context of the search being made.

This is to help us look at options and find what may be better for us.

torryquine

That's some interesting reading there Mira, the Artemesia in particular sounds like a posible way forward. What I think is shocking is the pitifully small amount of serious research and field trials on these afordable and sustainable alternatives - ref. the BMJ artical on the subject - http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/conte...7475/1156?etoc (sorry, not sure how to make that link).

Unfortunately (and probably like a lot of others out there) until I see good academic evidence (not written by someone trying to sell me something) that something really works, I'm simply not going to take the chance, so will stick to the proven nasties and the "no side-effects" Malarone. (We'll see about that ) But then I'm white and middle class so can afford to! I spent today ringing round the local pharmacies for quotes as the amount of rip-off varies quite considerably - UK pharmacies can charge what they like for it.

The cynic in me wonders if the shortage of good research as above, is kind of deliberate - in a Zantac/stomach ulcer kind of way. ie does the fact that Glaxo Wellcome make SO much from this drug (from mainly business travellers who's companies pay up without blinking) stand in the way of finding a cheap natural alternative? Nah surely not. And STILL it is only 98% effective!

As an aside When I was in Chitwan Nepal, someone told me that the Tharu people who live there have a natural immunity to malaria, which is why they were able to inhabit the area (and continued an almost stone-age existance due to their isolation right up to the 60s/70s) long before the development of any form of prophylactic. Does anyone know more about this? Again, surely a worthwhile line of scientific study.....

__________________
http://werenotafraid.com/

mira4bai4

There is actually a great deal of research undertaken into alternative malaria treatments, one has to be resourceful to find them, I have seen a listing for them in journals but unless one subscribes to the journal we the consumer cannot read about it. The WHO is a good source of info and possibly Googling will be useful. The difficulty that I have found is finding the correct technical term for the research papers, once you get that the general material is filtered out and the nitty gitty appears. Now a while back I did some serious serching on herbal treatments for other things and had the terminology down pat some terms like 'analysis and reviews' prooved helpful so one has to be quiet precise about what one wants to read. Many reports will be from Asian or African Technical Institutes as these are often the main ones trying to resolve the problem. This is not a western or European problem so the research money is not freely available, it is a developing and third world problem and like aids is devastating those countries but not in the west.
Google Search
Herb Info
Africa is an excellent place for focus on alternative treatments and there are some good remedies available from there.

The principal from most is that they either dispell the parasite from the liver and so no more malaria, or kill it but it remains in the body, however the problem is that being bitten again can give one another dose, reinfestation. Some of the treatments cannot be used constantly nomally once every 3 months or so as it puts to much pressure on the liver etc. Some products kill the parasite but it does not get passed from the body and I believe this may be such with the Artemisinin and so regular use is possibly ok. Neem, I understand kills the parasite, original cannot function and die.

A product called All Omgea seems to stop the spread of the parasite in the body and there are others that can be used as a spray to stop one from getting it. Homoeopathic remedies like Cinchona will get rid of the symptoms but I suppose the parasite still lives, the China 6 and the Malaria 30 would need to be considered - (any Homoeopaths out there your input would be appreciated). Colloidial Silver could be a good option as it is excellent for dispelling worms - (any Naturopaths out there input please) and would be easy to take.