A symposium on containment of mefloquine-resistant falciparum malaria in Southeast Asia with special reference to border malaria.

ABSTRACT

Important questions related to the factors responsible for and contributing to the origin and spread of multi-drug resistant falciparum malaria at the Thai-Cambodian and Thai-Myanmar border areas are discussed, including the current geographical distribution of multi-drug resistance and the prevention and control of this phenomenon. Specific recommendations are made on epidemiological surveillance, drug deployment, vector control, and the problem of migration which plays a major role in the dissemination of resistant parasite populations. The recent advent of mefloquine resistance of P. falciparum in Thailand may serve as fair warning in the absence of stern measures for preventing the occurrence of resistance to the next and currently last line of antimalaria drugs, especially those with a long half-life, in areas with intensive, uncontrolled malaria transmission, such as tropical Africa.