"Resistance to the drug that has saved millions of lives from malaria has been detected over a wider area than previously thought, scientists warn. The ability of the malaria parasite to shrug off the effects of artemisinin has been spreading since it emerged in South East Asia. Tests, published in Lancet Infectious Diseases, now show this resistance on the verge of entering India. Experts said the development was "alarming" and an "enormous threat". Deaths from malaria have nearly halved since 2000, and the infection now kills about 584,000 people each year. But resistance to artemisinin threatens to undo all that hard work, and it has been detected in: Cambodia Laos Thailand Vietnam Myanmar, also known as Burma Blood samples from 940 people with malaria from 55 sites across Myanmar showed this resistance was widespread across the country. One site, in the Sagaing region, showed that resistant parasites were just 25km (15 miles) from the Indian border..."