The herbal tea approach for artemisinin as a therapy for malaria?

In recent literature (Mueller et al., 2004; Räth et al., 2004) the impression is given that teas made from Artemisia annua leaves can cure malaria attacks owing to the presence of artemisinin. Although the authors do not recommend such a tea as a full substitute for a decent artemisinin-based therapy, they give the impression that artemisinin is extracted and that this contributes to the activity. This surprised me since it is well known that artemisinin is not soluble in water. Therefore, I am concerned about the clinical use of A. annua leaves as tea for the curative therapy of malaria. Artemisinin itself is a weak antimalarial drug and large quantities need to be given — according to literature 3–5 g over 5 days (Hassan Alin et al., 1996) — to obtain a beneficial effect. Underdosing, as might occur with extracted material, could increase the risk of recrudescence (Nguyen et al., 1993).