Malaria drug concerns

International scientists said they have found the first evidence of resistance to the world\'s most effective drug for treating malaria.



They said the trend in western Cambodia has to be urgently contained because full-blown resistance would be a global health catastrophe.



The drugs are reportedly taking longer to clear the blood of malaria parasites than before.



Scientists said this is an early warning sign of emerging resistance to a disease, which kills a million people every year.



Until now the most effective drug cleared all malaria parasites from the blood within two or three days but in recent trials this reportedly took up to four or five days.



BBC reports said its unclear why the region has become a nursery for the resistance.



However its reported that Cambodia’s public health system is weak, and the use of anti-malaria drugs is not properly controlled.