Expert calls for war against deadly drug-resistant malaria

A leading expert has warned that drug-resistant malaria could spread from southeast Asia to Africa within months, putting millions of children's lives at risk.

The malaria strain, resistant to the drug artemisinin, first emerged in 2007, along the Thai-Cambodian border.

Nicholas White, professor of tropical medicine at Mahidol University in Bangkok, has called for efforts on a war footing to curb the strain before it is too late.

Though the longer-to-treat form of malaria is suspected to be breaking out along the Thai-Myanmar frontier and in a province of Vietnam, where it has yet to be confirmed, what is raising concerns is the possibility of the deadly strain reaching Africa.

Meanwhile, India is closely monitoring the strain. According to Dr A Dhariwal, chief of National Vector Borne Disease Control programme who spoke to The Times of India, the National Institute of Malaria Research was monitoring Artemisinin resistance at 15 sites, mainly in the north- eastern states and Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa.

He added that chances of resistance were high in monotherapy and that was the reason it was banned.