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A drug designed to prevent opportunistic infections in HIV-positive people might also help protect them against malaria, researchers have said.
According to a report on the Science and Development Network website, the team of experts found that of 157 HIV-free children in Mali given the drug trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, only one contracted malaria and all had fewer gastrointestinal infections, which are common among people living with HIV/AIDS.
One of the experts, Christopher Plowe, of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in the US, noted that the team was not encouraging the treatment solely for malaria, partly because of fears of creating drug resistance.
However, he said the team's evidence suggested that concerns about drug resistance should not prevent the widespread use of the medication in HIV-positive people, who were twice as likely to contract malaria, with more severe effects.
The World Health Organisation is expected to release new guidelines for using the drug in Africa soon.
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