Resistance to artemesin in Cambodia

Artemisinin is a drug derived from a herb used in Chinese traditional medicine that, when combined with other treatments to form artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT), is highly effective at killing the parasites responsible for malaria. Artemisinin is effective, has few side effects and stays in the blood for a relatively short time, thereby helping decrease its chances of bacteria becoming resistant to it. Artemisinin is currently the gold-standard for pharmacological combat against malaria and forms a key part of anti-malarial strategies across the globe.
However, in early 2009 reports in Cambodia surfaced stating that the protist responsible for malaria may be developing resistance to artemisinin. As ACT’s are currently the most effective treatments with a success rate of almost 95%, losing these as weapons in the fight against malaria could be devastating and may severely hinder progress made in much of the world. In March 2010 the World Health Organization (WHO), in response to this threat, released new malaria guidelines for the treatment and procurement of medicines involved in malaria where they emphasized the importance of using artemisinin as combination therapies and not as monotherapies to help prevent bacterial resistance to the drug.
A BBC World Service Health Check podcast released on March 7, 2010 outlined some of the more recent developments in artemisinin resistance in Cambodia. Since last year when these reports surfaced, authorities in the area have taken aggressive steps to contain and treat the malaria in hopes that this resistant-strain will be eradicated and will not spread to other parts of the world. Greater communication between villages with malarial outbreaks across the region, increased use of bed nets and more stringent use of anti-malarial drugs are but some of the measures that have been taken and so far these efforts seem to have been successful. However, not all people believe these efforts will be enough.
Many experts believe that resistance to artemisinin is inevitable and, unfortunately, history has been on their side. In only recent times two anti-malarial drugs have become obsolete as bacteria became resistant to their effects and spread over much of the world. These people believe that the best case scenario is to delay and hinder this resistance as much as possible until new and improved treatments can be developed. In this sense, the battle against malaria will be a continuous and ever-changing one and one that may never be ‘won’ in the traditional sense.
However the problem of anti-malarial resistance is viewed, the fact of the matter is should we lose ACT’s as an effective treatment today the world will be left with no viable alternative; and this is something health professionals should be very concerned about.
http://www.thelancetstudent.com/2010/04/06/artemisinin-the-miracle-drug-against-malaria-and-how-we-may-be-losing-it/