Drug-resistant malaria parasites are now firmly established in border regions in four Southeast Asian countries, imperilling global efforts to control the disease, experts warned on Wednesday. Blood samples taken from 1,241 malaria patients found that parasites which are resistant to the frontline drug artemisinin have spread to border areas in western and northern Cambodia, eastern Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, they said. There also signs of emerging resistance in central Myanmar, southern Laos and northeastern Cambodia, but none in three African states -- Kenya, Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) -- that were included in the sampling. "It may still be possible to prevent the spread of artemisinin-resistant malaria parasites across Asia and then to Africa by eliminating them, but that window of opportunity is closing fast," said Nicholas White, a professor of tropical medicine at Oxford University, England.
via Health News Headlines - Yahoo News
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