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For a decade and a half Bharath Balu has been dissecting the parasite responsible for causing Malaria. He has been performing his research at the molecular and cellular level trying to unlock the secret that will lead to the creation of a new anti-malarial drug. Bharath Balu's research has been published – 20 articles in 15 esteemed science journals between 2003 and 2013. Bharath Balu has also presented his work 36 times at various science conferences nationally and internationally. Bharath Balu knows that science will one day be able to find the cure for the infectious disease. But how do you know who has it and who needs treatment for the disease? "Many of the symptoms of malaria are what you'd expect to find from someone suffering from influenza; they may have a fever, headache, muscle pain, chills, and vomiting. However, other symptoms include anemia, bloody stool, and coma," says Bharath Balu. The trouble is like other contagious diseases, the disease has mutated and strains differ between locations around the world. The treatment that works in one region or country may not work in another part of the world. Often the disease affects the poorest of populations and they suffer unable to afford a hospital stay or treatment. The largest suffers are children. "Millions of people are diagnosed with the disease every year, and hundreds of thousands are dying from it. The disease is caused by a parasite spread by mosquito," explains Bharath Balu, "It is a disease that has been around as long as humans, it is well adapted." And that is why different strains are resistant to anti-malarial drugs. In Bharath Balu's work, he is trying to find a new drug to stop the drug resistant strains. "How you are treated for malaria depends on the severity of the disease and the strain of malaria. The species of the parasite depends on world location." Treatment for malaria has to be determined by a doctor. If the disease is mild, then medication may be taken orally. For more severe cases, hospitalization may be necessary. "As a research scientist," says Bharath Balu, "I looked for a new drug for the human malaria parasites of Plasmodium species." The most common drug used for all malaria treatment was Chloroquine phosphate. However, due to the wide spread of chloroquine resistance throughout the world, the current preferred method of treatment is Artemisinin-combination therapies. If you have any questions about malaria, its symptoms or treatments, Bharath Balu invites you to research malaria from sites like the following: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001646/
http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/diagnosis_treatment/index.html
http://www.medicinenet.com/malaria/article.htm
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