Bogus antimalarials sold in Cambodia

Bogus antimalarials sold in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH (AP): Bogus malaria medication is being sold in
Cambodia, threatening many of the 80,000 infected people here,
health officials warned on Monday.

Low-priced versions of antimalarial medicines Mefloquine and
Artesunate were recently found to be fakes packaged in bottles
nearly indistinguishable from those used for the real medicine,
he said.

Health officials estimate that 0.7 percent of Cambodians,
about 80,000, are infected with malaria, which is passed to
humans by mosquitoes.

While deadly, malaria is easily cured if quickly and properly
treated. About 5,000 Cambodians still die annually from the
disease, indicative of the county's poor health care and extreme
poverty, especially in rural areas where malarial mosquitoes
thrive.