Medicines used to treat malaria kill the malaria parasite inside the human body. However, similar to the insecticide resistance mentioned above, after repeated use of an anti-malaria medicine, the parasite can develop resistance to that particular drug or to similar medicines. As a result, the parasites inside the human body can no longer be killed and patients cannot be cured unless new drugs are developed for treatments. If drug-resistant malaria parasites are not cleared by treatment from infected individuals, they are easily picked up by vector mosquitoes, and transmitted to new susceptible individuals who then develop drug-resistant malaria. Moreover, more people who are not getting cured by drug treatment means that more will die of malaria.

Last modified: Monday, 21 July 2014, 7:26 PM