An alarming shortfall of a key drug is undermining an international drive to reduce the malaria death toll. A rise in demand has led to a shortage of arte-misinin, the main treatment for malaria that is resistant to conventional therapies, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on 8 November. Artemisinin is extracted from the wormwood plant, Artemisia annua, which grows wild in southern China and Vietnam. Combined with other drugs, its derivatives, such as artesunate and artemether, can clear symptoms of malaria in three days. Malaria currently kills about a million people every year, mainly in Africa.
展开▼
