Thailand battles drug-resistant strains of malaria

BO RAI ( Thailand): Once a smuggling stop for Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge guerrillas, Thailand’s border town of Bo Rai finds itself on the frontline of a new battle against drug-resistant strains of malaria that could frustrate global attempts to stamp out the disease.

Malaria killed about 445,000 people last year, more than 90% of them in sub-Saharan Africa, but the figure has nearly halved since 2000.

Now the hard-won gains are at risk from the latest drug-resistant form, which emerged in Cambodia before spreading to Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

“What we are concerned about is that a patient with the disease travels between countries and that risks the spread of infection,” said Vicharn Phatirat, who heads the mobile disease control unit in Bo Rai, 300km east of Bangkok, the capital.

Health officials monitor victims of the mosquito-borne disease closely, to ensure they complete their treatment, which limits chances for the disease to become resistant to drugs, as well as to identify carriers of resistant strains.

Still resistance is emerging in South-East Asia to the drugs artemisinin and piperaquine, critical in the fight against malaria, which has seen billions of dollars spent to help avert infection and cut diagnosis time and costs.

Scientists fear a repeat of the global malaria resurgence after drug-resistant parasites emerged in South-East Asia from the 1950s to the 1970s.

The best way to halt resistant strains is to eradicate the disease, once endemic across southern Europe and parts of the United States.

Thailand hopes to wipe out malaria by 2024, with fewer than 10,000 cases this year, down nearly 60% from 2016.

“We have entered the malaria elimination stage,” said health official Piti Mongklangoon. — Reuters