Artemisinin: an endoperoxidic antimalarial from Artemisia annua L.

Abstract

For thousands of years, physicians in China have treated fever with a decoction of the plant qinghao (1). In 1972 Chinese chemists isolated the active febrifuge from this plant, determining its structure, 1, by single crystal x-ray crystallography (2, 3). The discovery was timely, for the world sorely needs a better treatment for malaria. More than 270 million people suffer from the disease, two to three million dying each year. The majority of the deaths are of children under 5 years of age, who are especially sensitive because of their lack of immunity to the disease.