Viagra has unexpectedly been found effective for treating a number of medical conditions, from pulmonary hypertension to altitude sickness. Now we can add antimalarial to the list of off-label uses for everyone's favorite blue pill.Researchers at the Institut Cochin in Paris and the Institut Pasteur, in collaboration with a team from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, made the surprising discovery in a study that was partly funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Scientists found that sildenafil, as well as other drugs tested in the study, causes malaria-infected red blood cells to become rigid, allowing the spleen to eliminate them from the body and preventing their recirculation in the bloodstream. That means fewer infected blood cells available to the mosquitoes who act as the transmission vector passing the disease on to its next human victim.
The discovery could lead to a new class of antimalarial drugs aimed at blocking the spread of the disease in human populations. According to the World Health Organization, in 2013 more than 198 million people were infected with malaria and more than 500,000 people died from the disease.
Viagra doesn't directly treat the symptoms of malaria, so don't feel compelled to stock up if you're heading for the tropics -- unless you'd like to stiffen up something other than your red blood cells.
