Malaria as time bomb in Southeast Asia. Scientists are racing against time; to eliminate them, before they spread strains of them can not be stopped.

Crowds of men and women gathered in the forests of northeastern Cambodia in April 2018, attracted by a rare crop of rare tropical plantations, called samrong. After days of long walks through the wild jungle, some of these travelers returned home with plenty of these crispy seeds, which are prized at a high price as a unique dessert or a component used in traditional Chinese medicine, but soon many of those returning . Hong Chem, a 56-year-old rice farmer, says the fever raged a few days after that trip. His muscles hurt him, as did his eyes, and he was besieged by unbearable nightmares. A health worker told Chem that the results of the tests showed he had infected Plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly type of malaria parasites. Because a wave of malaria was sweeping the area in that period, there was a shortage of drug supplies. Chem eventually found a store selling the drugs he needed; he soon recovered, but in the days that passed, mosquitoes might have sucked up the parasites in his blood and transferred them to other people.

After years of decline and decline, malaria rates appear to be rising in northeastern Cambodia, where people are wading into fertile, mosquito-infested areas; searching for timber and seasonal goods, such as samarong (scientifically known as scaphium affine). These movements are an opportunity for the sickle-mongrel parasite, which needs a host of humans and insects alike to thrive. Other factors contributing to the disease's prosperity are also available, such as delays in treatment that allow parasites to survive and spread, and a worrying decline in the efficacy of malaria drugs, the gold standard of treatment, called artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs).