“This should focus minds,” said Charles Woodrow, one of the authors of the study. “We have to eliminate these very resistant parasites. The fear is that if we don’t, we would reverse all the gains that have been made.”
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“The pace at which the geographical extent of artemisinin resistance is spreading is faster than the rate at which control and elimination measures are being developed and instituted, or new drugs being introduced,” the authors of The Lancet article wrote. “A vigorous international effort to contain this enormous threat is needed.”
There is no immediate replacement for artemisinin, which has helped contribute to steep declines in mortality rates from the disease.
Scientists say any possible substitute is years if not decades away.
Scientists are particularly concerned about the declining efficacy of artemisinin because it appears to follow a pattern seen in previously used malaria drugs, like chloroquine. Such drugs were, in their time, mainstays of malaria treatment but are no longer considered useful because the parasite became resistant.
Del artículo Malaria in Widening Area Resists Drug, Study Finds.
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