Malaria drug chloroquine ‘regaining its effectiveness’

A new study has suggested that a previously widespread treatment for malaria may be becoming efficacious once again.

Resistance monitoring at the University of Copenhagen has suggested that 70 percent of the malaria parasites found in Senegal are reacting to chloroquine once more, mirroring trends seen in Tanzania and Mozambique.

This development could be hugely important, as it would allow patients in poorer countries to benefit from a cheap therapy option, as chloroquine costs only costs $0.25 (16p) for a four-day cure.

However, physicians will need to carefully monitor their deployment of chloroquine in order to avoid the misuse of the treatment that caused resistance to develop in the first place.

Michael Alifrangis, associate professor at the centre for medical parasitology at the University of Copenhagen, said: "Our choice of drugs against malaria is limited and related, so when the malaria parasite once again reacts to a substance, it influences several treatment methods."

Data from the World Health Organization shows that malaria caused an estimated 655,000 deaths in 2010, mostly among African children.