Drug Repurposing: A Review of Old and New Antibiotics for the Treatment of Malaria: Identifying Antibiotics with a Fast Onset of Antiplasmodial Action

Abstract

Malaria is one of the most life-threatening infectious diseases and constitutes a major health problem, especially in Africa. Although artemisinin combination therapies remain efficacious to treat malaria, the emergence of resistant parasites emphasizes the urgent need of new alternative chemotherapies. One strategy is the repurposing of existing drugs. Herein, we reviewed the antimalarial effects of marketed antibiotics, and described in detail the fast-acting antibiotics that showed activity in nanomolar concentrations. Antibiotics have been used for prophylaxis and treatment of malaria for many years and are of particular interest because they might exert a different mode of action than current antimalarials, and can be used simultaneously to treat concomitant bacterial infections.

Keywords

• antibiotics
• drug repurposing
• malaria
• Plasmodium
• slow and fast-acting drugs