Burrill Report: Leading Malaria Drug Becoming Less Effective

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By Kristi Eaton, The Burrill Report:

Poor regulations and substandard use could be to blame for growing resistance to a leading anti-malaria drug, researchers say. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine says malaria parasites, which are injected into the bloodstream by infected mosquitoes, are growing more resistant to artemisinin, the leading drug used to fight the disease. The increasing resistance to the drug threatens to render it less effective and could eventually make it obsolete, putting millions of lives at risk. Malaria kills more than 1 million people a year, many of whom are young children or pregnant women.

Researchers studied 40 patients in Pailin, western Cambodia, and 40 patients in Wang Pha, north-western Thailand following reports that the efficacy of artemisinin, single drug therapies, and combination therapies were declining in western Cambodia. In randomized trials, the patients were given a dosage of artesunate, an artemisinin drug, another anti-malarial drug, mefloquine, or a combination of the two. On average, patients in Thailand were clear of parasites in 48 hours; in western Cambodia it took 84 hours. Of the 20 patients in each country treated with only one of the drugs, there were recurrences of the infection in six patients in western Cambodia, compared to just one person in Thailand. A recurrence occurred in two patients from Cambodia who used combination therapy and one patient from Thailand. This suggests, the scientists say, that artemisinin was less effective on the Cambodian parasites.