Successful malaria control has meant a drop in mortality rates worldwide but it is still an important disease. Therapies using artesunate, a derivative of artemisinin drugs, aim to kill malaria parasites before they mature. These therapies have high success rates and need to be developed. General care of malaria patients also needs to be improved.
\n \n\n \n \nThe Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) is a collaboration between the University of Oxford and Mahidol University, and was established with the Wellcome Trust in 1979. MORU aims to fight the infectious tropical diseases affecting rural communities in Asia and elsewhere in the developing world. MORU's malaria research aims to directly improve the treatment of the disease globally. It's researchers focus on the treatment of severe malaria, the spread of antimalarial drug resistance, and the pathophysiology of falciparum and vivax malaria. These studies are used to formulate novel adjuvant therapies, and have been translated into recommendations for the use of artemisinin based combination therapies.
\n \n\n \n \nInfluenza, SARS & Ebola Research on emerging infectious diseases can only be conducted during outbreaks. Although virology has improved, a well calibrated and effective public health response is often lacking. Epidemiological and clinical research as well as mathematical modelling will give us answers during the epidemics and help us provide better diagnostics and better treatments.
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