Anti-AIDS drugs effective against malaria

Researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia have discovered that protease inhibitors, a class of anti-AIDS drugs, are also effective against the parasite that causes malaria. According to the BBC, lead researcher Dr Kathy Andrews noted that the findings were particularly important to sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV and malaria were rife and claimed more than a million lives each year. Andrews said prohibitive costs made it unlikely that the drugs would be used as a first-line treatment for malaria, but their use was recommended for HIV-positive people who were co-infected with malaria.