Multidrug-resistant malaria superbugs are threatening progress made to control the mosquito-borne disease. Photo: ODT fileMultidrug-resistant malaria superbugs have taken hold in parts of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, threatening to undermine progress against the disease, scientists said. The superbugs - malaria parasites that can beat off the best current treatments (artemisinin and piperaquine), have spread throughout Cambodia, with even fitter multidrug-resistant parasites spreading in southern Laos and northeastern Thailand. From the late 1950s to the 1970s, chloroquine-resistant malaria parasites spread across Asia and then into Africa, leading to a resurgence of malaria cases and millions of deaths. The fear now is that the same pattern of resistance spread and the resurgence will repeat itself.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 02, 2017 00:54 UTC