Effectiveness of shortcourse quinine and singledose sulfadoxinepyrimethamine in the treatment of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa

Introduction. Quinine therapy for 7 days remains the mainstay for treating hospitalised malaria cases in South Africa. However, limited resources, including available beds and staff, often result in early discharge of non-severe cases, with quinine tablets for outpatient use. The effectiveness of shorter course quinine therapy coupled with a long-acting antimalarial drug has never been established in Africa, in particular in a population without malaria immunity.Methods. A study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a 3-day course of therapy with quinine sulphate (10 mg/ kg 8-hourly) followed by a single dose of sulfadoxinepyrimethamine (SP) according to weight category, before discharge, for 133 hospitalised patients with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria at Shongwe Hospital, Mpumalanga province, between February and July 1998. Study endpoints included clinical recovery and parasitological cure, including polymerase chain reaction (PCR) 42 days after initiating treatment.Results. One hundred and thirty of 131 patients (99%) successfully followed up for 42 days demonstrated clinical and parasitological cure. The remaining patient, who had evidence of a recrudescent infection on PCR, was 1 of 61 patients who were still parasitaemic on discharge from hospital.Conclusion. The abbreviated course of quinine therapy coupled with a single dose of SP for the treatment of nonsevere hospitalised cases of P. falciparum malaria, in an area with demonstrated low levels of SP resistance, was highly effective. This approach has potential benefits, including reduced duration of hospitalisation, fewer quinine-associated adverse events and protection against the evolution of quinine resistance by limiting unsupervised quinine therapy in the community. It may, however, be prudent to document a negative blood film before discharge from hospital

Therapeutic efficacy of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine in uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria 3 years after introduction in Mpumalanga

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An Operational Framework for Insecticide Resistance Management Planning

Arthropod vectors transmit organisms that cause many emerging and reemerging diseases, and their control is reliant mainly on the use of chemical insecticides. Only a few classes of insecticides are available for public health use, and the increased spread of insecticide resistance is a major threat to sustainable disease control. The primary strategy for mitigating the detrimental effects of insecticide resistance is the development of an insecticide resistance management plan. However, few examples exist to show how to implement such plans programmatically. We describe the formulation and implementation of a resistance management plan for mosquito vectors of human disease in Zambia. We also discuss challenges, steps taken to address the challenges, and directions for the future

Increased gametocytemia after treatment: an early parasitological indicator of emerging sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine resistance in falciparum malaria.

BACKGROUND: Although malaria treatment aims primarily to eliminate the asexual blood stages that cause illness, reducing the carriage of gametocytes is critical for limiting malaria transmission and the spread of resistance. METHODS: Clinical and parasitological responses to the fixed-dose combination of sulfadoxine and pyrimethamine in patients with uncomplicated falciparum malaria were assessed biannually since implementation of this treatment policy in 1998 in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. RESULTS: Despite sustained cure rates of > 90% (P = .14), the duration of gametocyte carriage increased from 3 to 22 weeks (per 1000 person-weeks) between 1998 and 2002 (P < .001). The dhfr and dhps mutations associated with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine resistance were the most important drivers of the increased gametocytemia, although these mutations were not associated with increased pretreatment asexual parasite density or slower asexual parasite clearance times. The geometric mean gametocyte duration and area under the gametocyte density time curve (per 1000 person-weeks) were 7.0 weeks and 60.8 gametocytes/microL per week, respectively, among patients with wild-type parasites, compared with 45.4 weeks (P = .016) and 1212 gametocytes/microL per week (P = .014), respectively, among those with parasites containing 1-5 dhfr/dhps mutations. CONCLUSIONS: An increased duration and density of gametocyte carriage after sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine treatment was an early indicator of drug resistance. This increased gametocytemia among patients who have primary infections with drug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum fuels the spread of resistance even before treatment failure rates increase significantly