Biologist Pamela Weathers Has Discovered a New, Cost-Efficient Cure for Malaria

Guest: Pamela Weathers, Professor of Biology and Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute Efforts to fight malaria have stalled out in recent years, according to the World Health Organization, and one of the reasons is drug resistance. The parasite that causes malaria is developing defenses against the best medicines currently available to treat the illness. The expense of those medicines is another challenge facing the global malaria response. Both of the cost and drug resistant problems might be solved by a plant.  Biologist Pamela Weathers has found evidence that drying and grinding the leaves of a certain plant may treat malaria better than current drugs.