In vitro Antimalarial Activity of Flavonoids and Chalcones Soon Sung Lim, Hye-Sook Kim,

Malaria is one of the most common infectious diseases in tropical and subtropical countries, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Each year, it affects nearly 400-900 million people and causes approximately one to three million deaths annually. 1 Human malaria is caused by Plasmodium falciparum, P. malariae, P. ovale, and P. vivax, however, P. falciparum is the most prevalent for the disease and it is responsible for about 80 % of infections and 90 % of deaths. 2 The first effective treatment (17 th century) against the P. falciparum parasite was the bark of cinchona tree, which contains quinine, a quinoline alkaloid. A number of medicines have been developed to treat malaria with chloroquine and its derivatives 3 as the mainstay therapy. In recent years, P. falciparum has become increasingly resistant to conventional antimalarial drugs, and the search for new antimalarial compounds by combining natural sources and synthetic approaches is still underway