Manslaughter by Fake Artesunate in Asia—Will Africa Be Next?
نویسندگان
چکیده
June 2006 | Volume 3 | Issue 6 | e197 Falciparum malaria kills, and it particularly kills the rural poor. Artemisinin derivatives, such as artesunate, are a vital component of Plasmodium falciparum malaria treatment and control in the face of globally increasing antimalarial drug resistance. Since 1998 a worsening epidemic of sophisticated counterfeit “artesunate” tablets (containing no artesunate) has plagued mainland Southeast Asia (see Figure S1). In some countries, most of the available artesunate is fake [1–5]. Artemisinin derivatives are remarkably rapid in their antimalarial effects, and they are very well tolerated. So where these medicines are available, they are sought after. But as they are relatively expensive, a demand is created for cheaper versions amongst the poorest and most vulnerable people, upon whom the counterfeiters have preyed–with fatal results.
منابع مشابه
Correction: Manslaughter by Fake Artesunate in Asia—Will Africa Be Next?
Objective: To investigate the risk profile of patients with thrombosis and emboli, and prognostic factors for death or amputation in patients presenting with acute limb ischemia in a tertiary care regional hospital in Brazil. Methods: A prospectively planned cohort study was carried out in which 83 patients with acute limb ischemia, secondary to thrombosis, or embolism, classified in stages II ...
متن کاملFake artesunate in southeast Asia.
Artesunate is a key antimalarial drug in the treatment of multidrug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria in southeast Asia. We investigated the distribution of counterfeit artesunate tablets by use of the validated, simple, and inexpensive Fast Red TR dye technique. We also aimed to identify distinguishing characteristics of the fake drugs. Of 104 shop-bought "artesunate" samples from Cambod...
متن کاملFake antimalarials in Southeast Asia are a major impediment to malaria control: multinational cross-sectional survey on the prevalence of fake antimalarials.
OBJECTIVE To assess the prevalence of counterfeit antimalarial drugs in Southeast (SE) Asia. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. SETTING Pharmacies and shops selling antimalarial drugs in Myanmar (Burma), Lao PDR, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Proportion of artemisinin derivatives or mefloquine containing drugs of substandard quality. RESULTS Of the 188 tablet packs p...
متن کاملCharacterization of counterfeit artesunate antimalarial tablets from southeast Asia.
In southeast Asia, the widespread high prevalence of counterfeits tablets of the vital antimalarial artesunate is of great public health concern. To assess the seriousness of this problem, we quantified the amount of active ingredient present in artesunate tablets by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. This method, in conjunction with analysis of the packaging, classified tablet...
متن کاملA Collaborative Epidemiological Investigation into the Criminal Fake Artesunate Trade in South East Asia
BACKGROUND Since 1998 the serious public health problem in South East Asia of counterfeit artesunate, containing no or subtherapeutic amounts of the active antimalarial ingredient, has led to deaths from untreated malaria, reduced confidence in this vital drug, large economic losses for the legitimate manufacturers, and concerns that artemisinin resistance might be engendered. METHODS AND FIN...
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عنوان ژورنال:
- PLoS Medicine
دوره 3 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2006