PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) -- A two-year effort to contain and eliminate a drug-resistant strain of falciparum malaria near the Cambodian-Thai border has shown signs of success, the government said Friday.

Dr Duong Socheat, who heads the National Center for Malaria Control, said an ongoing programme that to date has tested 2,448 villagers near the western town of Pailin revealed only two cases of the strain resistant to artemisinin combination therapy (ACT).

ACT, which uses artemisinin and other drugs to attack the parasite, is the world's most important malaria treatment. Experts are worried the resistant strain could spread from western Cambodia and cause a global malaria crisis.

"The result is very encouraging," said Duong Socheat of the six-week testing programme that took place in six of Cambodia's most malaria-prone villages. "We have got a very good result."

ACT resistance means patients take longer to recover from malaria. Scientists say at some point full resistance would emerge.

Two years ago the government, the World Health Organization (WHO) and several NGOs combined efforts to tackle the resistant falciparum strain that was discovered in 2007.

Dr Steven Bjorge, a WHO malaria specialist in Phnom Penh, said it looked like the methods used to combat the strain were working.

"It's phenomenally low -- we feel it's very, very low," he said of the results. "It looks like we're having success. I am cautiously optimistic."

Bjorge said most falciparum malaria cases are found in eastern Cambodia rather than in the country's far west. However, none of the falciparum cases in the east have been shown to be resistant to ACT.

He said eastern Cambodia would be targeted later this year with money from the Global Fund, which targets HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and which has allocated 102 million dollars to the country over the next five years.

The ongoing process to test villagers follows a concerted effort around Pailin against ACT-resistant malaria, that included providing mosquito nets, combating fake drugs and educating people. Nationwide 1,300 villages now have two health workers trained to test for malaria and provide free treatment.

Duong Socheat said he is hopeful the government target of zero malaria deaths by 2020 can be reached, provided funding and expertise remained available.

Last year 270 people died from malaria in Cambodia.

The news comes a week after the senior US malaria control official told a conference in Hanoi there were indications that ACT-resistant malaria had emerged in Myanmar and Vietnam.

Copyright 2010 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH