Last week, two studies found that the presence of drug-resistant strains of malaria is on the rise in southeast Asia. The research has provoked alarm among scientists who are leading the fight against one of the world's most stubborn health problems. The disease is "getting close to being untreatable," said Arjen Dondorp a lead author of one the studies and the head of malaria research at the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit in Thailand. The strains are currently contained to parts of southeast Asia where the disease has greatly declined over the last decade.
But they could be devastating if they were to reach more malaria-ridden regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, experts say.Here are five key findings from the reports. 1. What did the studies find? Two studies published in the Lancet journal of infectious diseases last week found that resistance to the most common form…
