DM1ST(^22) DAILY MIRROR WEDNESDAY 24.07.2019
Drug-resistant
malaria threat
to thousands
the parasite samples showed the
resistant strain had spread across
Cambodia and was also in Laos,
Thailand and Vietnam.
Dr Roberto Amato, from the
Wellcome Sanger Institute, said:
“This strain has spread and has
become worse.”
Professor Tran Tinh Hien, from
the Oxford University Clinical
Research Unit, in Vietnam, added:
“With the spread and intensifica-
tion of resistance, our findings
highlight the urgent need to adopt
alternative first-line treatments.”
The World Health Organisation
estimates malaria killed 435,000
worldwide in 2017, with 403,000
of the deaths in Africa.
Researchers analysed the
genome of 1,673 samples from
Cambodia, Laos, north-east
Thailand and Vietnam.
They found the resistant
parasite in 1,615 cases.
Before 2009, this type of
parasite was only found in western
Cambodia but by 2016/17 it made
up more than 50% in all surveyed
countries except Laos.
In north-eastern Thailand and
Vietnam, the resistant parasites
made up 80% of cases.
A report in The Lancet Infec-
tious Diseases concluded: “Our
data clearly show that KEL1/PLA1
(malaria strain) is now highly
prevalent in Laos, Thailand, and
Vietnam, where it has frequently
replaced indigenous parasites.
“These findings show an
evolutionary process in action.”
[email protected]
@MartinBagot
BY MARTIN BAGOT
Health and Science Correspondent
Fear as super-strain spreads across Asia
A SUPER-STRAIN of malaria
is spreading across Asia and
could cause havoc if it
reaches Africa.
British scientists discovered
the new variant of the malaria
parasite, carried by female
anopheles mosquitoes, which is
resistant to key drugs.
Researchers collected parasite
samples from patients across east
Asia from 2007 to 2018 and
unveiled their findings in the
Lancet journal.
It is feared the deadly strain
could kill thousands if it arrives in
sub-Saharan Africa where most of
the almost half a million annual
malaria deaths occur.
The global battle against
malaria relies on a combination of
the drugs artemisinin and
piperaquine.
The researchers said that by
2013 these drugs were failing to
clear malaria infection in 46% of
patients treated in western
Cambodia. An analysis of DNA in
DEADLY RISK
Anopheles
mosquito
DRAMA Tracie Hunter
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