Malaria Prevention "In Trouble"

Malaria prevention is "in trouble," said Brian Greenwood, a world renowned malaria researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, by telephone from Cameroon.For Greenwood, the main rub is increased resistance to drugs, particularly the longtime mainstay, chloroquine, which is relatively cheap to produce in mass quantities.Medical workers are turning to a new drug called artemisinin, derived from a herb indigenous to Asia.Drawing on lessons learned treating Africa's other main killer, HIV/Aids, they are using it in tandem with other drugs. But production is slow and expensive."It's a plant that takes 18 months to grow. You can't just say that you need 20-million doses right now," Greenwood said.Without chloroquine and the insecticide DDT -- which helped eradicate malaria in the United States and Europe but was ultimately believed by many to cause cancer and harm the environment -- anti-malaria campaigners say they've lost two important weapons."It's pretty straightforward," said Druilhe. "We have today far less means to control malaria than 50 years ago."As for new insecticides, scientists say there are only pockets of resistance in the mosquitoes that carry malaria, not a continent-wide problem. Yet."If you had in one place a high level of resistance to both drugs and insecticides, it would be a disaster," Greenwood said.