An international group of scientists revealed that a drug against malaria discarded before can be effective to combat the disease. This new revelation was from new study published April 15 in the journal Science.

Although some malaria – transmitting mosquitoes develop resistance to drugs against the disease, the offspring of these parasites do not inherit acquired immunity by their parents, according to the study.

This new finding, led by the University of Melbourne (Australia), opened a new hope to fight malaria, which in 2015 claimed 438,000 lives, 90% of which were in Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The research focused on the resistance that some mosquitoes have developed a drug called atovaquone, which was introduced in 2000, but was not allowed to be prescribed because many patients relapsed from it.

According to the sample taken by scientists, 44 attempts of transmission of the disease, which included 750 mosquito bites, immunity to the drug was inherited on a single occasion of mosquito to mosquito.

The study was conducted in mice and humans, and both the same results were obtained.

The fact that you can continue with the administration of atovaquone is good news, since the drug is suitable for children and pregnant women.

 The research team also included scientists from Indonesia (Hasanuddin University and Eijkman Institute) and Japan (University of Jichi, Nagasaki and Tokyo) and Johns Hopkins University in the US.