Discovery may help combat 'superbugs' globally

Subject

The impact of the new discovery on 'superbugs'.

Significance

The World Health Organisation (WHO) classifies increasing resistance against antimicrobial drugs as a global health threat. In the case of malaria, which endangers about 50% of the world's population, resistance to the most effective antimalarial drug artemisinin is advancing in South-east Asia. However, recent research offers hope against antimicrobial resistant infections. In January, scientists published a revolutionary approach -- iChip-- to discover and study formerly unknown microorganisms and their antimicrobial activity. The iChip potentially paves the road for a new era of antimicrobial drug discovery that is urgently needed.

Impacts

• The use of artemisinin-based monotherapies rather than combination treatments will contribute to artemisinin resistance.
• Artemisinin monotherapy is used in Angola, Cape Verde, Colombia, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Sao Tome and Principe, Somalia and Swaziland.
• These countries are therefore in danger of emerging artemisinin-resistant malaria.