Scientists have detected resistance to artemisinin, a key malaria drug, for the first time among children in Africa with severe disease. The continent accounts for 95% of all deaths from malaria globally, and children are the most badly affected.

“If this is verified by other studies, it could change guidelines for treatment of severe malaria in African children, and they are the biggest target group by far,” says Chandy John, a specialist in paediatric infectious diseases at Indiana University in Indianapolis. John is a co-author of the study, published in JAMA1 and presented today at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, in New Orleans, Louisiana.