Doctor Kochi says there have been no documented cases yet where treatment failed because of resistance to artemisinin. But he says there is concern about decreased reaction to the drug in Southeast Asia. That area is traditionally where resistance to anti-malaria drugs has first appeared.
Malaria produces high body temperatures and a dangerous loss of fluids. The W.H.O. estimates there are more than three hundred million cases of malaria in the world each year. At least one million people die. Nine out of ten deaths happen in African countries south of the Sahara Desert. Most of the victims are young children.
The World Health Organization is warning people not to use only one drug to treat malaria. That drug is artemisinin. W.H.O. officials say people should take it only in combination with other malaria drugs. The fear is that artemisinin could lose its effectiveness if it is misused.
Artemisinin comes from a plant called the sweet wormwood. Chinese researchers discovered it more than thirty years ago. The W.H.O. says artemisinin is more than ninety-five percent effective in curing malaria when used correctly with other anti-malarial drugs.
The health agency cannot force them to obey. But there are steps it could take to pressure companies that continue to sell artemisinin as a monotherapy. For example, the W.H.O. could urge the World Bank, the Global Fund and other agencies not to buy drugs from those companies.
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