Researchers have developed a new, long-acting malaria drug that they believe may help fight o­ne of the world's biggest killers. The drug, still known by its experimental name "DSM265," can stop the malaria parasite at several stages in its life cycle, the researchers report in the journal Science Translational Medicine. Tests in people have begun.

Malaria medicines that are too weak or downright fake are harming people's health and could aggravate drug resistance, says epidemiologist Paul Newton, head of antimalarial quality at the WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network in Oxford, U.K., and director of the Wellcome Trust-Mahosot Hospital-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Collaboration in Laos.

MAE SOT, THAILAND- o­n Thailand's border with Myanmar, also known as Burma, a malaria research and treatment clinic is stepping up efforts to eliminate a drug-resistant form of the parasite before it spreads abroad.

Drug-resistant malaria parasites have spread to border regions of Southeast Asia, seriously threatening global efforts to control and eliminate the mosquito-borne disease, researchers said o­n Wednesday.

As malaria rates decline across much of Africa, a new study seeks to fight another problem. Drug-resistant bacteria are a growing concern as antibiotics have become the automatic choice for treating a child with a fever. Research from Tanzania, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, shows that most illnesses are caused by viral infections.  Antibiotics do not kill viruses, and overuse of these important drugs is decreasing their effectiveness.

• WHO Unveils New Malaria 'Roadmap' (12/02/2013)
• Soldiers at risk from anti-malarial drug, claims ex-senior medical officer (09/27/2013)
• New Malaria Drug Shows Promise in Animal Tests (03/27/2013)
• Can Asia save Africa from drug-resistant malaria? (12/17/2012)
• Artequick promises 24-hr treatment for malaria, elimination in 20 years (09/28/2012)