drug for malaria loses potency

Ok. I admit I'm pretty slow on reading up on developments in molecular biology and medicine. There is just too much literature at times that I can't help but feel overwhelmed. I'm so glad I have friends who can point me in the right direction. (Thanks Cat!)

I wish I could do a lot of the pointing myself, too.

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In the International Herald Tribune, a month-old article warns about the developing resistance to artemisinin-based drugs. Working in Mindoro has definitely opened my eyes to this disease. I appreciate any new information I can get about treatment and management.

Malaria patients in the intensive care ward of the provincial hospital
in Battambang, Cambodia.(Thomas Fuller/International Herald Tribune)

Spread of malaria feared as drug loses potency

The recent studies show that artemisinin-based drugs are becoming less effective in removing the parasite from the bloodstream. While a few years ago it took the drugs 48 hours to clear the bloodstream of parasites, it now can take 120 hours.

Although this has only been noted in Tasanh located near the Thai border of Cambodia, it certainly heralds things to come. Malaria must be eradicated, eliminated before drug resistance spreads.

Artemisinin-based drugs such as artemether are used to treat Plasmodium falciparum-confirmed malaria. Falciparum is one of four types of malaria and is endemic in the Philippines. It is unfortunate that it also happens to be the most virulent.

In the Philippines, artemether is commonly used in combination with lumefantrine. Drug combinations allow for faster treatment and may slow transmission of the disease. It may also decrease the rate of developing drug resistance.


Read on the evidence of Artemisinin-resistant malaria in the The New England Journal of Medicine. Other articles on malaria are also in the same issue of NEJM (Dec 11, 2008).