Drug resistant malaria on the Thai-Myanmar and Thai-Cambodian borders

• Published in: Southeast Asian journal of tropical medicine and public health Vol. 32; no. 1; pp. 41 - 49
• Main Authors: WONGSRICHANALAI, Chansuda, SIRICHAISINTHOP, Jeeraphat, KARWACKI, Jerome J, CONGPUONG, Kanungnit, MILLER, R. Scott, LORRIN PANG, THIMASARN, Krongthong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bangkok Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization, Regional Tropical Medicine and Public Health Network 01-03-2001
• Subjects: Animals; Antimalarials - pharmacology; Antimalarials - therapeutic use; Artemisinins; Biological and medical sciences; Cambodia - epidemiology; Drug Resistance; Human protozoal diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Malaria; Malaria, Falciparum - drug therapy; Malaria, Falciparum - epidemiology; Medical sciences; Mefloquine - pharmacology; Mefloquine - therapeutic use; Myanmar - epidemiology; Parasitic diseases; Plasmodium falciparum - drug effects; Protozoal diseases; Sesquiterpenes - pharmacology; Sesquiterpenes - therapeutic use; Thailand - epidemiology; Tropical medicine; Thailand; Asia; Cambodia; Myanmar; Infection; Human; Resistance; Antimalarial; Protozoal disease; Malaria; Parasitosis; Epidemiology
• ISSN: 0125-1562

We describe the changing epidemiology of drug resistant malaria in Thailand over the past decade. Factors determining the characteristic patterns of the development and spread of resistance to anti-malarial drugs on the Thai-Cambodian border and the Thai-Myanmar border are explored, namely, population dynamics, drug usage and malaria control measures. The introduction of artesunate-mefloquine combination in selected areas along the two borders in 1995 is believed to be one of the multiple factors responsible for stabilizing the multidrug resistance problems in Thailand today. Other control measures and inter-governmental co-operation must continue to be strengthened in order to limit the spread of drug resistance malaria in the Southeast Asian region.