First identified in Cambodia, a new malaria superbug which is spread by mosquitoes, is ravaging southeast Asia. The new form of malaria is also drug-resistant, making the first line of defense against it, null and void.
As of now, five countries in Southeast Asia have reported artemisinin-resistant malaria. (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and Myanmar.) What is more concerning, however, is that along the border between Cambodia and Thailand, the parasite has become resistant to almost all treatments. This drug resistance is thought to be driven by a number of different factors, including patients not completing their course of drugs and inadequate treatment policies in certain regions, as well as the wide availability of the drug over the counter, including cheap substandard forms.
With humans being more connected than ever right now too, the parasite could spread to other regions of the world quickly, making treatments even more difficult. The worry for scientists is that the superbug could travel to the African continent.
According to The Lancet Infectious Diseases, the strain of Plasmodium falciparum (the new malaria superbug) is resistant to drug artemisinin. “The spread of this malaria “superbug” strain, resistant to the most effective drug we have, is alarming and has major implications for public health globally,” said the Wellcome Trust’s Michael Chew, who was not involved in the study. “Around 700,000 people a year die from drug-resistant infections, including malaria. If nothing is done, this could increase to millions of people every year by 2050.”
This is of serious concern to scientists in the global fight against the malaria parasite. The drug that it has been found to be resistant to, artemisinin, is often administered as a first-line treatment for the infection. Expanding access to this drug it is thought to have been crucial in the massive achievements seen globally to reduce the malaria burden, with up to 311 million courses of the drug having been produced in 2015 alone.
The main role of the drug is to reduce the parasite load of infected patients to a level that other combination medicines can tackle. The fact that one strain of malaria has been found to be resistant to this drug could, therefore, have a profound impact on the effectiveness of others, although the World Health Organization does stress that the parasite can still be eliminated with these other medicines, but that it simply takes more time. –IFL Science
“We are losing a dangerous race,” explained Sir Nicholas White, a co-author of the letter. “The spread of this malaria “superbug” has caused an alarming rise in treatment failures forcing changes in drug policy and leaving few options for the future. We need to tackle this public health emergency urgently.”
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Great, all of these filthy rat foreigners coming into the US can spread this disease as well…Simple solution: keep all the dirty shits out of the US, Christ why is that so hard for people to get into their thick skulls??
CC,
Personally, I don’t think anyone deserves to be called a ‘filthy rat foreigner’. We are all ‘Children of the Most High’!
As far as ‘artemisinin-resistant malaria’, we knew this was happening back in the 1980s. I spent a lot of time in the areas described and participated in some of the research that was going on at the time. I personally contracted malaria as well and it was Plasmodium falciparum I contracted along the Burmese border. It started out with Chloroquine resistance, then Quinine resistance. One of the new antimalarials that came out of China at that time was made from the plant Qinghao Su a plant that grew in southwestern China containing Artemisinin. Soon after the drug was introduced in the area to treat Chlorquine resistant malaria, resistance to artemisinin was quickly noted along the Thai-Cambodian border that soon spread across Thailand and into Burma and throughout the region. Here in America, we very seldom see malaria. Usually what we see is an occasional traveler who came from an endemic area. The life-cycle of malaria requires the Anopheles mosquito as a vector. You are more likely to get a virus from someone who is carrying it than from someone who has the malaria parasite unless you were transfused with blood from an infected person or received an organ donation.
Flu season will soon be upon us. Wash your hands with hand sanitizers or soap and water and cover your mouths especially when you cough. Stay away from crowds when possible. Most of you know my position on vaccines, they are effective and they have saved countless lives! I spend a lot of time worrying about those little things that you cannot see that can kill you very fast.
Louisiana Eagle
Heard of pest control?
This is Human control.
Sgt.
My question is are the scientists really working for the cure or working for stronger drug resistant mosquitos? In the same vein as vaccine producers and gmo manipulators. Big business harming customers with government approval and protection. If you like your gmo’s you can eat your gmo’s. Trust not earned by any stretch of the imagination.
aljamo – excellent question. My first thought as well more or less. Science, scientists, are well aware of the number of generations from egg to adult rapidity of any and all insect life. This new crop of skeeters is guaranteed to prove to be the stronger as long as they can mature and breed well. I reckon that Bill Gates has a hand in this one. Nothing says backdoor like Microsoft. Add in unrestricted “immigration” and the world is absolutely on track to pandemic.
Aljamo, I think this is more likely the case. Of course, it would give the government good reason to spray pesticides on the pleebs. After all, it will be for our good. ?
The GMO thing is a problem,
I keep up on ag industry news and new developments, lots of big farms having lots of problems with GM crops, everything from corn residue not breaking down to weeds that have become resistant to herbicides to GM crops not performing as they are supposed to.
Bottom line,
Theres no substitute for sound practices in the field and theres no shortcuts.
GM is in many cases just a crutch that ends up making you limp on the other side
Keep any of that shit out of your compost pile too.
THERE IS A SOLUTION …it is a small bush that bugs hate …it called jatropha … it will drive the bugs back …if sprayed the jatropha oil in water it kills the larvae … its oils is good for repellent too …very cheep …natural and effective …loves tropical areas and hard to kill …
I looked it up, but there are 170 different species of jatropha. Can you you name the variety you are speaking of?
Oh great,,,, thats just great,
Now we gots to worry about malaria!
What the heck else!
Great point Nailbanger. How about Chickengunya, Rat-Lungworm Disease (Attacks the Brain), Zika, Lyme-Beriliosis, Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Dengue Fever, Ebola; to name a few.
Turmeric (curcumin), oregano oil (carvacrol), HOT peppers (capsaicin), REAL chicken broth, coconut oil, vitamin D (best obtained from sunshine – no sunscreen allowed), vitamin C… some of these alone in high amounts or any combination in moderate amounts will knock out any virus or bacterial infection! I haven’t been properly sick in years, even when people with a full-blown flu are coughing all over me, lol!
Let’s hope it spread to Africa and south america. God created disease to control the population and preserve fitness. AIDS was a Godsend. Homos,drug users(lovers of pleasure) and whores need to die out. Anyone who disagrees is a satanist.
DDT prevents the spread of malaria.
Hmmm, and Bills Gates has donated money to fight malaria? What gives?
Outlining the survival essentials if living in the tropics to my daughter who is half Filipina and where we have farm and house, I asked her if you can only have 5 things, what 5 things do you chose to have in your survival pack if you are stranded in the tropics? I suggested:
1.Water purifier
2. Mosquito netting
3. Cooking pot
4. Knife
5. Fire starter
She was puzzled by the mosquito netting.
Next in order, and more debatable
6. Tarp ( water collection vs shelter)
7. Cordage
8. Connibear trap vs snare
9. Fishing pole nylon line and hooks
10. Saw
Bottom line: it really sucks to get sick from drinking bad water ot getting dengue or malaria.
Fine. Let it spread to Africa. Sounds like a good solution to an ever growing problem.
Big Pharma has a cure that you can not afford.
More like, they have a cure that they won’t tell you about because they can’t patent it to sell it to you!
Ever wonder why it only takes months or years for a virus or bacteria to mutate and “evolve” – but there has been NO evolution of humans for tens of thousands of years?
Incorrect. The babies of the original gaming generation (kids who grew up plating atari, coleco, nintendo and sega) were being born with larger, stronger thumbs! My son’s thumbs when he was born were as long as his middle fingers but twice as thick! Evolution does happen quickly, but not all mutations are readily noticed 🙂
Non GMO exploding watermelons might work better.
Super Malaria Bug Spreads Through Southeast Asia
Here’s a idea … don’t live in SOUTHEAST ASIA!!!
Norseman, in his stab at humor, which I honor with a smile, makes a critical point. Bacteria evolve rapidly, relative to humans, and that is because they are so numerous.
This problem of drug resistant illness was built into the scheme from the very start.
“This drug resistance is thought to be driven by a number of different factors, including patients not completing their course of drugs and inadequate treatment policies in certain regions, as well as the wide availability of the drug over the counter, including cheap substandard forms.” [quoting from the article]
What these have in common, on a technical level, is their propensity to encourage the survival of bacterial stragglers with resistance, who then multiply. Overuse expands this effect into ever larger bacterial populations. That is part and parcel to the process. The process, by its nature, stimulates resistance. The process is ultimately self-defeating, but it’s great to be a doc or a hospital administrator while it rolls on.
Time to bone up on your natural medicine, folks! Big Pharma’s meds can’t touch a lot of things anymore, but mother nature has a medine cabinet chock full of stuff that still works!