India : Drug-resistant malaria strain is new threat from the East

Via Times of India :

" NEW DELHI: India is keeping a very close watch on a strain of malaria that has become resistant to Artemisinin -- the best drug available to fight the disease.

This major threat emerged in the villages on the Thailand-Cambodia border in 2007. Now, scientists and the World Health Organization (WHO) fear that it could spread across the world in no time putting millions of children's lives at risk.

Speaking to ToI, National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme chief Dr A Dhariwal said the National Institute of Malaria Research are monitoring Artemisinin resistance in 15 sites, mainly in the north- eastern states and Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. "Chances of resistance is high in a monotherapy."