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posted by janrinok on Friday February 09 2018, @03:05AM   Printer-friendly
from the blue-pee dept.

According to the World Health Organization, malaria is responsible for approximately 445,000 deaths every year. That number may be due to drop, however, as scientists have found that a human-safe blue dye kills parasites in patients' bloodstreams within two days – that's faster than has ever been possible before.
...
That's where the methylene blue dye comes in.

In field tests conducted in Mali, it was added to artemisinin-based medication, and was found to eradicate all gametocytes in patients' bloodstreams within as little as 48 hours. The dye is typically used in laboratories to distinguish dead cells from living cells, and was reportedly well-tolerated by the test subjects. It does, however, have one interesting side effect.

According to the lead scientist it turns your urine blue, which is reason enough for anybody to take it, really.


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @04:42PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @04:42PM (#635553)

    From the linked Wikipedia article:

    Methylene blue was identified by Paul Ehrlich about 1891 as a possible treatment for malaria

    Doesn't sound exactly like a new discovery.

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