Artemisinin Resistance in Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the
first place where resistance has emerged in malaria parasites to
artemisinin-based drugs. Currently the most effective treatments
for malaria worldwide are drugs derived from artemisinin used in
combination with other drugs. The use of two different drugs
together aims to ensure that parasites resistant to one drug are
killed by the other, before they can spread. The spread of
artemisinin resistance from Asia to Africa and beyond would be a
devastating setback to the global progress achieved so far in
malaria control and elimination efforts. Development of
antimalarial drug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum, the
species of malaria parasite responsible for the majority of
malaria deaths, is not new. Since the late 1950s, resistance to
chloroquine developed in two regions - South America and
Southeast Asia - and is now widespread throughout the world.
Resistance of P. falciparum to other antimalarial drugs
including sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (Fans