Stadig flere resistente malaria-parasitter skal spores, så man kan uskadeliggøre dem ved at tilpasse bekæmpelsen – en ny metode er genetiske chips, som amerikanske forskere nu opererer med i Sydøstasien, hvor det står særlig slemt til.
BANGKOK, 29 August 2012 (IRIN): Scientists in the USA are looking to use “gene chip technology” to reduce or contain drug resistance to malaria, an increasing problem globally but particularly in Southeast Asia.
Researchers from the US University of Notre Dame’s Eck Institute for Global Health are developing a “gene chip” which could contribute to identifying drug resistance in blood samples.
The goal is to “see resistance as it is emerging, respond in real time and modify strategies to save a drug, such as protecting it with new formulations and combinations tailored to the specific location of emergence,” said the lead researcher, Michael Ferdig, adding:
“We now have mar-kers for emerging resistance and new hypotheses that we will use to track down the resistance mechanism.”
Genetic markers or “signposts” are any alteration in the DNA that helps to identify the presence of a specific disease.
Artemisinin is a natural plant product that represents the first-line treatment for malaria, after resistance to chloroquine (klorokin), an antimalarial previously widely used, forced treatment to change in the early 1970s.
Growing resistance to artemisinin in the greater Mekong sub-region – including Cambodia, the southern provinces of China, Lao, Burma, Thailand and Viet Nam – means treatment is taking longer to clear parasites.
Læs videre på
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96197/HEALTH-Gene-chip-technology-deployed-in-fight-against-malaria
Begynd fra: “Southeast Asia, and in particular western Cambodia, is….”
Se også
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/95358/ASIA-Containing-anti-malarial-drug-resistance-in-Mekong
