This might sound like a bizarre claim in some spam email trying to convince you to buy male enhancement drugs, but it is actually the result of a recent study published in PLOS Pathogens.
The study involved using an artificial spleen to examine the effects of different drugs, specifically effecting levels of cAMP (a signalling molecule related to ATP, the basic currency of energy in life), like Viagra (officially called sildenafil), on the ability of the malaria parasite to avoid detection from the body.
Normally, malaria parasites avoid detection by retaining the normal squishy cell surface. The team found that certain drugs such as Viagra could stiffen these cells by inhibiting an enzyme that would normally make them squishy. The stiff cells are then more effectively cleared by the spleen.
In the authors’ own words, “by two different approaches we confirm that the drop in cAMP levels in mature gametocytes leads to an increase in their deformability and hence more likely to circulate through the spleen. Our molecular observations have the potential to be translated into therapies for blocking malaria transmission by demonstrating that raising cAMP levels with sildenafil also known as “Viagra” renders mature gametocytes rigid.”
This in turn can lead to more specific drugs that are increasingly able to help the body differentiate between healthy and infected red blood cells. This, along with several other even more effective projects, seem to indicate that the long fight against malaria is starting to be won along multiple avenues.