30 million to 0! China originally relied on this ＂shortcut＂ to eliminate malaria.
Cctv news(Reporter Zhu Chunyan): On June 30th, the WHO issued a press release saying that China was officially certified by WHO to eliminate malaria. The communique said that the reduction of malaria cases in China from 30 million in the 1940s to zero was a remarkable feat.
Malaria is one of the most dangerous infectious diseases in the development of human history. For decades, scientific research forces from many countries in the world have been continuously involved in the fight against malaria. China scientific research project team, relying on the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine, embarked on a "shortcut" that the western world could not reach.
Nowadays, artemisinin, an anti-malaria drug developed by China, has saved millions of lives all over the world. China’s strategy to eliminate malaria has been written into WHO technical documents and promoted to other countries.
The plague that "abused" the Millennium
Malaria is an ancient infectious disease, and the word "abuse" has been found in Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Yin and Shang Dynasties 3,500 years ago. Bai Juyi, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, also described the horrific scene of the plague: when he smelled the Lushui in Yunnan, the pepper bloomed. The army waded like soup, but not ten people died.
Malaria is an acute parasitic infection caused by plasmodium, which is mainly transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes or through blood transfusion. After suffering from malaria, people will have a sharp high fever, sweating all over, and sometimes it is cold and sometimes it is hot. People in China call malaria a "flutter".
If people are not treated in time after being infected, the mortality rate of falciparum malaria is as high as 40%. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 30,000 people in Simao, Yunnan. After 30 years of repeated malaria epidemics, there were only 900 people left in Simao. Malaria is a tropical disease. In the south of the Yangtze River, people once turned pale at the smell of "abuse".
In fact, malaria plagues all mankind. Chloroquine was once the most effective drug to treat malaria. During World War II, the United States produced tons of chloroquine, saving tens of thousands of American soldiers suffering from malaria from death. In 1960, the cure rate of chloroquine and other antimalarial drugs for malaria patients was close to 97%, but a few years later, plasmodium became resistant to various antimalarial drugs including chloroquine, and the cure rate dropped to 21%. With the frequent migration of people, drug-resistant plasmodium travels around the world, which makes the emergence of drug resistance expand continuously, and the scene of human struggle with malaria is out of control again.
In order to solve this problem, the U.S. military has set up a malaria commission to carry out research on new antimalarial chemicals. From 1965 to 1975, the US Army Medical Research Institute alone invested $450 million in antimalarial drugs. By 1972, the United States had screened 214,000 compounds.
Meanwhile, China is also developing drug-resistant malaria drugs. On May 23, 1967, the State Science and Technology Commission and the General Logistics Department of China People’s Liberation Army jointly held a meeting and assigned a secret scientific research task. The task was named "Project 523" with the secret code of the meeting date of May 23rd. More than 500 people from more than 60 units all over the country formed a scientific research team with division of labor and began to develop drug-resistant malaria drugs.
Find another way to find a "shortcut"
At that time, China could not compete with western countries in scientific research and medical treatment. Under such circumstances, the "523" project team decided to use modern medical means to extensively screen available chemicals, and at the same time find another way — — Looking for a new breakthrough from traditional Chinese medicine.
"Chinese medicine does not come from the laboratory, but from people." Jiang Tingliang of the Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine said that Chinese medicine comes from the experience accumulated from patients for thousands of years. This accumulated information is the advantage of Chinese medicine, and the project team can look for answers from Chinese medicine with goals.
Many ancient Chinese medical books prove that Chinese discovered a surprising number of natural medicines from nature very early. There are many prescriptions for malaria treatment in ancient medical books in China, among which there are nearly 5,000 kinds of herbs selected in a targeted way. It is no longer a needle in a haystack to define the scope and find the convenience of medicine, and the "523" project team has embarked on a shortcut that the western world can’t reach.
In January 1969, Tu Youyou undertook the task of "523" project as a middle-aged researcher in Beijing Institute of Chinese Medicine. In the process of consulting a large number of ancient books, Tu Youyou found that it was mentioned in "Elbow Backup Emergency Prescription" written in 304 AD that drinking Artemisia annua juice can treat malaria. Tu Youyou was inspired by this and started the road of repeated experiments and verification.
At the beginning of 1973, the Beijing Institute of Chinese Medicine got the crystal of Artemisia annua, and then its antimalarial effect was confirmed in other areas. The "523" project office named Artemisia annua crystal artemisinin.
During this period, the United States invested hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a new antimalarial drug mefloquine. However, the plasmodium became resistant to mefloquine soon after it was put on the market. Different from mefloquine, artemisinin has a brand-new chemical structure, which is a compound composed of only three elements: carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
Plasmodium has no resistance to this new structure obtained from Chinese herbal medicine. After artemisinin enters the human body, it will cause the change of iron in red blood cells, so that plasmodium, which eats hemoglobin in red blood cells for a living, will starve to death because it cannot eat.
In 1974, falciparum malaria broke out in Gengma, Yunnan, where plasmodium had developed resistance to chloroquine. After 18 cases of clinical observation, artemisinin has been proved to be completely able to treat malaria.
China’s gift to the world.
In January 1976, malaria broke out in Cambodia, which was difficult to control because of its serious drug resistance. At the request of Cambodia, China sent a malaria prevention and control delegation to Cambodia, and at the same time carried a batch of artemisinin. As a result, artemisinin is equally effective in Cambodia, saving the lives of a large number of patients.
Over the years, from Southeast Asia to Africa, artemisinin therapy has saved millions of lives and brought hope to people in poverty-stricken areas accompanied by malaria.
In 2015, Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. At the award ceremony in Stockholm, Tu Youyou said, "Artemisinin is a gift from Chinese medicine to the world", and traditional Chinese medicine is a great treasure house, which can bring greater benefits to human health.
Pedro Alonso, director of WHO’s Global Malaria Program, said that for decades, China has been able to jump out of its traditional mode of thinking, which has played a very good role in China’s response to malaria and had a significant impact on the global scale. The government and people of China have been looking for innovative ways to accelerate the elimination of malaria.
WHO believes that there are many key experiences in the success of malaria control in China, including providing basic public health services for residents free of charge, effective multi-sectoral cooperation, and the "1-3-7" monitoring strategy that has been strictly observed in recent years — — Report the case within 1 day, complete the case review and transfer within 3 days, and carry out the investigation and disposal of epidemic spots within 7 days. This monitoring strategy is characterized by rapid response, which can effectively complete case handling and prevent further spread of malaria. It has been written into WHO technical documents and promoted to other countries.
"China has been certified by WHO to eliminate malaria, which is good news for China and the world." "Eliminating malaria is also a great contribution made by China to human health and the progress of human rights in the world." China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said. (Proofreading: Liang Yaqin)