drying time and storage conditions invariably determine the arte-
misinin content in the plant (Christen and Veuthey, 2001; Ferreira
et al., 2005; Willcox et al., 2004b). Consequently, the use of A. an-
nua tea in self-medication might lead to variable results which are
difficult to associate with a failure or a successful treatment. In
previous studies, the tea preparation has either been tested on
healthy volunteers or on adult patients who might have already
developed some immunity (Mueller et al., 2004; Räth et al.,
2004). The current study evaluates the efficacy of an artemisinin
tea using an animal model. We chose an experimental controlled
trial in mice to eliminate the bias due to self-medication prior or
during the treatment when performed in human volunteers