Scary Drug-Resistant Malaria Spreading in Asia

The World Health Organization says that only one-third of malaria-endemic countries dealing with falciparum malaria, the parasite's deadliest strain, are doing enough to detect a version of it resistant to one of the best-known treatments.

Strains of malaria resistant to Artemisinin, a powerful prophylactic and treatment for the mosquito-borne parasite, are spreading in Southeast Asia, the WHO said in a press release.

The resistant strain of malaria first appeared along Myanmar-Thailand border, the WHO said. Officials fear it could spread from the Cambodia-Thailand border to Africa, as it did with other antimalarial drugs such as chloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine in the 1960s and 1970s.

The malaria parasite develops resistant to drugs through random and rare changes in its genetic code. Once the change occurs, the resistant version of the parasite becomes more likely to survive and reproduce itself and therefore accelerate its own spread. The best way to deal with resistant malaria is to isolate people who have it and prevent them from getting bitten by other mosquitoes who could spread it.

"Antimalarial drug resistance is like a cancer, it must be fought at every level - affected countries need to be in the frontline in combating the emergence of drug resistance. WHO should be empowered and supported to take a strong lead. It is crucial to protect (Artemisinin combined treatments) as they are the best treatments for millions of people against malaria," said Professor Nicholas J White, of the Mahidol-Oxford Research Unit in Bangkok, Thailand.