Malaria could be felled by an Antarctic sea sponge

The frigid waters of the Antarctic may yield a treatment for a deadly disease that affects populations in some of the hottest places on earth. Current medications for that scourge — malaria — are becoming less effective as drug resistance spreads. But researchers report in ACS’ Journal of Natural Products that a peptide they isolated from an Antarctic sponge shows promise as a lead for new therapies. Some 219 million cases of malaria were reported worldwide in 2017, according to the World Health Organization, with 435,000 people having died from the disease in that year. Symptoms begin with fever and chills, which can be followed by severe anemia, respiratory distress and organ failure. The parasite responsible for malaria is transmitted to people through mosquito bites. It spends some of its lifecycle first in the liver, where it reproduces, and then it moves into the blood.

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