Immunological Effects Of Moringa Oleifera On Malaria And Malnutrition During Plasmodium Chabaudi Infection

Malaria is a worldwide problem that affects millions of people yearly, especially in rural areas where life-saving anti-malarial drugs are not easily accessible. Residents in such rural areas also suffer from malnutrition due to limited supply of varieties of nutritious foods, thus they use herbal plants for both the treatment of various diseases and as nutritional supplements. One such herbal treatment, that also serves as a nutritional supplement, is Moringa oleifera. Both malaria and malnutrition are believed to be the associative cause of about half of the deaths in the world and children are most affected, suffering the greatest morbidity and death. As Moringa is used as a treatment regimen in malaria endemic areas, studies to determine its immunological effects on the infection are limited. Therefore, we investigated the immunological effects of Moringa on malnutrition and the immune response to Plasmodium chabaudi infection in a murine model.