Alarm over malaria in Southeast Asia: drug-resistant parasites found
Bangkok (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A new form of drug-resistant malaria is spreading in
Southeast Asia and has reached
the border between Cambodia
and Thailand. This
was revealed by a team of British
researchers in a study published in
the New England Journal of Medicine, and warns of the need
for "radical action" to prevent further transmission of these parasites.
The study analyzed blood samples from
more than 1,000 malaria patients from 10 countries across Asia and Africa. Evidence of drug resistance were not found in the three selected sites
in Africa: Kenya, Nigeria and the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
In contrast, the researchers found
that in Thailand, Vietnam, east Myanmar and north-west Cambodia the malaria parasite has developed resistance to artemisinins, a very powerful active ingredient used in the fight against the disease.
Early signs of resistance were also recorded in south Laos, in northeast Cambodia and in central areas of Burma.
The Thai-cambodian border
area is of particular concern, where in the past there had
been cases of resistance to
antimalarial drugs.
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