Malaria

The statistics attributed to Malaria are profoundly bleak. Of the six million Malaria sufferers who are hospitalised every year, 120,000 will die. Including out of hospital mortality, one child dies every two minutes from this mosquito-borne disease.

While there are effective pharmaceutical treatments available, disease severity, recovery times and mortality are all strongly linked to a patient’s parasitaemia upon beginning drug treatment. Given the lengthy travel time required for many developing world patients to reach hospital many only get treatment once it’s too late. The key to tackling malaria lies in our ability to facilitate the rapid removal of infected red blood cells. When this is successfully carried out, a significant reduction of parasitaemia occurs – and that signifies the first steps on a patient's road to recovery.

Pre-clinical results appear to be very encouraging, indicating that the MediSieve Filter could reduce a child's parasitaemia by over 90% in two hours. Magnetic haemofiltration offers the chance to turn back the clock for these patients by rapidly and safely reducing a patient’s parasitaemia. A one-off treatment of a severe patient could reduce mortality, accelerate symptom reduction, and prevent disease escalation.

The device is targeted at severely ill malaria patients who have been hospitalised and prescribed IV drug treatment. These are the most vulnerable patients, including children, pregnant women and immune deficient patients, and can have mortality rates up to 20%.