Artemisinin-Resistant Malaria in Asia

Abstract

Artemisinin-based combination therapies have recently been introduced in virtually all countries in which malaria is endemic, thereby making such drugs the most essential class of antimalarial agents. The spread of artemisinin resistance could have a devastating effect on global malaria-control efforts. An important assumption in the use of such therapies is that the combination-drug partner will protect artemisinin from the development of resistance. However, recent data indicating that artemisinin resistance has already emerged along the border between Cambodia and Thailand suggest that this view may have been overly optimistic.¹