Need for action amidst increasing virulence of bugs & decreasing efficacy of drugs

The same web of life in which interdependent organisms live together in harmony can often have new entrants in the form of pathogens that make us feel sick and miserable. When we take the doctor prescribed drug, the bugs sense it as an attack on their existence and when their numbers start dwindling making us feel euphoric enough to stop taking the drug; there emerges a mutant variant of the same bug which resists the action of the drug. This mutant energised with a sense of victory then proliferates exponentially making us feel sick and miserable once again. This is the saga of the birth and death of all drugs including antibiotics, anti virals, anti protozoans, anti cancer and anti pain drugs. I shall illustrate this phenomenon with some examples and pose the question of how we may infuse a pinch of wisdom in the way we use drugs. The need for action component of my talk will delineate how my laboratory is exploring Nature to discover and chemistry to design new drugs against Malaria.