Molecular epidemiology of Plasmodium falciparum drug resistance and vaccine targets in high-transmission settings in Africa.

ABSTRACT: The spread of antimalarial drug resistance and the potential emergence of vaccine-escape variants in Plasmodium falciparum threaten progress toward malaria elimination in sub-Saharan Africa. Here, we applied a scalable, Oxford Nanopore-based amplicon sequencing platform to profile five resistance genes (crt, dhfr, dhps, mdr1, k13) and the vaccine target csp in clinical isolates from northern Nigeria. We identified high frequencies of dhfr-IRNI (90%) and dhps-SGKAA (45%) haplotypes, consistent with molecular markers of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) resistance. However, no dhfr/dhps quintuple or sextuple mutation combinations associated with SP-IPTp failure were detected, supporting its continued preventive use in pregnancy. The chloroquine-resistant Pfcrt-76T allele persisted at ~ 25% freq

SUBMITTER: Aliyu IA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12815930 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature