Malaria drug re-ignites AIDS origin debate

An international research team’s recent findings that chloroquine, the drug commonly used in the treatment of malaria in Zimbabwe, was an effective treatment against certain aspects of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was likely to re-ignite debate about the origins and causes of the disease, the ‘Financial Gazette’ reported on Thursday.

The findings of the research team, published recently in the international Journal of Clinical Virology, stated that chloroquine might help solve the problem of finding effective and affordable HIV drugs for developing countries such as Zimbabwe. Chloroquine is widely used in southern African countries for the treatment of malaria, a common disease that is transmitted by the anopheles mosquito.

The report e-mailed to the Financial Gazette by the United Kingdom-based PUSH Journal said clinical trials had confirmed the extensive HIV-inhibiting ability of chloroquine and its derivatives. It also mentioned the advantage of chloroquine in the treatment of AIDS because the drug is already in extensive use and its toxicity profile is well known, unlike most of the anti-retrovirals currently being prescribed for AIDS.