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LONDON – A strain of malaria resistant to two essential drugs has spread rapidly since Cambodia and has become dominant in Vietnam, Laos and northern Thailand, with a "terrifying prospect" that it could reach Africa, scientists warned Monday, with the help of genomic surveillance scientists discovered that the strain, known as KEL1 / PLA1, had also evolved and detected new genetic mutations that could make it even more resistant.
"We discovered that it had spread aggressively, replacing local malaria parasites, and had become the dominant strain in Vietnam, Laos, and northeastern Thailand," he said. Roberto Amato, who worked with a team from the British Wellcome Sanger Institute and Oxford University and Thai Mahidol. University.
The risk is high that the new strain may threaten sub-Saharan Africa, where most cases of malaria and deaths occur, mainly among babies and children.
"This extremely powerful strain of resistant parasite is capable of invading new territories and acquiring new genetic properties, opening up the terrifying prospect of its spread in Africa … as did chloroquine resistance in the 1980s, contributing to Millions of deaths, "said Olivo Miotto, of Oxford University, who co-directed the work.
Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites, which are carried by mosquitoes and spread by their blood-sucking bites.
According to estimates by the World Health Organization, nearly 220 million people have been infected with malaria in 2017 and 400,000 have succumbed to it.
Malaria can be treated with drugs if it is detected early enough, but the evolution of drug resistance – such as the spread of chloroquine-resistant malaria between Asia and the world. Africa from the late 1950s to the 1980s – has hampered efforts to eliminate it.
The first-line treatment in many parts of Asia over the past decade has been a combination of dihydroartemisinin and piperaquine, also called DHA-PPQ.
Researchers have discovered in previous work that a strain of malaria resistant to this combination had evolved and spread in Cambodia between 2007 and 2013. This latest study, published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, revealed that she had crossed the borders and tightened her grip.
Miotto said additional work is now needed to determine the extent of this resistance and whether it has evolved further – and possibly to understand which drugs would work against the resistant malaria parasites.
"Other drugs may be effective at the moment, but the situation is extremely fragile," he said. (Report by Kate Kelland, edited by Kevin Liffey)
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