Meaning of artemisinin | Babel Free

Definitions

An antimalarial drug derived from the sweet wormwood shrub, Artemisia annua, found as the active ingredient in traditional Chinese medical herbal treatment for malaria, chemically a sesquiterpene lactone - C₁₅H₂₂O₅.

countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“Artemisinin (Qinghaosu) isolated from Artemisia annua is a novel sesquiterpene lactone bearing an unusual endoperoxide function.”

“The practical value of artemisinin itself as a therapeutic agent has been limited by several factors, however. Artemisinin has a high rate of recrudescence [8], poor oral activity [8], a short half-life in plasma [9], and limited solubility in both water and oil [10].”

“The emerging resistance to artemisinin is partly due to the complexity of the parasite and the unstoppable nature of its ability to evolve. But it is also the direct⟳ result⟳ of greed, for which there is no drug or vaccine. In early 2009 the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the discovery of malaria parasites along the Thai-Cambodia border⟳ that were proving resistant to commonly used derivatives of artemisinin called artesunate and anthemeter.”

CEFR level