Malaria Strain Along Thai-Cambodian Border Increasingly Drug-Resistant, WHO Official Says
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
New evidence shows that a strain of malaria along the Thai-Cambodian border is becoming increasingly resistant to artemisinin-based combination therapies,
Pascal Ringwald, a medical officer who monitors malaria drug resistance at the
World Health Organization, said recently,
IRIN News reports. Ringwald said, "We are facing a problem that instead of killing the parasite within 24 to 36 hours as before, ACT now needs up to 120 hours to kill the parasites."
Richard Feachem, director of the
Global Health Group at the
University of California-San Francisco, said drug resistance occurs in areas of Southeast Asia "where there has been rampant and uncontrolled use of artemisinin monotheraphy." Physicians often prescribe artemisinin with one of many slower-acting drugs; however, artemisinin monotherapy is a "popular choice for many" because of its low cost, although WHO does not recommend the practice,
IRIN News reports. Feachem said the resistant strain of malaria will spread throughout the region, particularly in low-income areas, if physicians do not stop prescribing monotherapies.
The overall number of malaria cases reported in Cambodia decreased to 54,000 in 2008, from 59,000 in 2007 and 100,000 in 2006. In addition, malaria deaths have decreased by 50% in two years, down to 184 in 2008 from 241 in 2007 and 396 in 2006,
IRIN News reports. WHO at an emergency meeting in October 2008 recommended that the ACT dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine, which was virtually 100% effective in trials conducted in Cambodia, be prescribed in 2009. WHO also recommended wider distribution of insecticide-treated nets, rapid deployment of WHO-endorsed drugs and stricter enforcement of bans on monotherapies (
IRIN News, 1/13).
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