A natural remedy, Chinese superdrug and antimalarial: the story of artemisinin

摘要

CONFIRMATION of artemisinin-resistant malaria on the north-west border of Thailand, reported last month,1 is a bad omen for veterans of the war against a parasite that is thought to kill over 650 million people each year. It was in the same region of south-east Asia that resistance first appeared against the last best hope for treating malaria — chloroquine — over 50 years ago. So news that the central role of artemisinin-based malaria treatments could be undermined has sent malaria researchers hurrying to their laboratories to see how best to combat the latest threat.