Fifty years ago
the spread of malaria carrying mosquitoes became an issue because they were all
resistant to the drugs that were created to stop the disease. At that time the
drug chloroquine was used as a cure. According to recent findings history looks
like it is about to repeat itself. The parasite is currently only in Asia, but
is showing possibility that it will spread to India soon. If this is true
thousands of lives will be at risk because they will all become infected with
resistant malaria.
Researchers
at Oxford studied around a thousand samples of malaria parasites and found that
39% contained genetic makeup that made them resistant to artemisinin which is
the drug that has been used to cure malaria in recent times. With this
information they were able to map out regions that will be at risk if the
malaria resistant parasite keeps spreading. This can help those areas prepare
for the possible infestation. The spreading rate of the parasite is actually
starting to scare certain scientists.
This article is very interesting in that it shows how over time genetic mutations made the malaria parasite resistant to certain drugs. It is also interesting in that this is not the first time it has happened. The fact that this is actually an alarming threat to is crazy. Many bugs and even humans have become resistant to drugs, so it makes a person wonder if constant research should be done for a new drug when the previous one stops working.
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