Malaria: Resistance to Medicine

Topic Overview

Antimalarial medicines are the only effective way to prevent and treat malaria infection. But some malaria parasites have become resistant to certain medicines in certain areas of the world.^{footnote 1} The most accurate information about malaria medicine resistance in specific countries is available from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov/malaria) and the World Health Organization (www.who.int/topics/malaria/en).

The malaria medicine used to treat the infection depends in part on the location where a person gets malaria and the type of malaria parasite causing the infection.