Herbal Vietnam War remedy key to cheap malaria cure - artemisinin

[Guest guest]

Michele,

Thanks for this.

I saw an interesting TV show about this a few years ago. The plot

thickened...

The Chinese did the initial research. Then, the Amricans decided to

take over. The further development was entrusted to a US military

hospital or research center - the program suggested, as I recall,

that it was felt that the full scientific research was beyond the

level of the Chinese. Then, things started going wrong. They were

using a plant that I think grew on the Potomac, assuming it to be the

same, but it wasn't. I believe that research was put back quite a lot

because of the mistrust of the Chinese at this phase.

 

The program also made the point that if the Chinese hadn't tested Qing

Hao, it's unlikely that this medicine or any like it would ever have

been discovered, as it involved an entirely new mechanism of action.

 

I understand that the Chinese had looked through a number of ancient

texts to match recorded symptoms with malaria, and then tried out

various remedies, of which Qing Hao was one. A Chinese doctor I

studied with told me that the antimalaria use of Qing Hao came from a

7th Century text, that recognised that heating destroyed the action of

the herb.

 

Wainwright