UCT may have found cure for Malaria

The University of Cape Town's Science Department believes it has found a single dose cure for Malaria.

CAPE TOWN - The University of Cape Town (UCT)'s Science department on Tuesday announced it has found a single dose cure for Malaria.

Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor was also present when the announcement was made.

Researchers have been hard at work for several years and now believe they have discovered a drug which may annihilate a mosquito's parasitic life cycle.

Clinical trials are set to take place at the end of 2013.

UCT Professor Kelly Chibale said if the tablet is approved, it will be a major boost for scientists across the continent.

"This is the first ever clinical molecule that's been discovered out of Africa, by Africans, from a modern pharmaceutical industry drug discovery programme."

The potent drug has been tested on animals and has shown that a single oral dose has completely cured those infected with malaria parasites.

This means that millions of people can potentially get cured.

At least 24 percent of child deaths in sub-Saharan Africa are due to malaria and globally, one million people die each year from the disease.