Molecular correlates of high-level antifolate resistance in Rwandan children with Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

ABSTRACT: Antifolate drugs have an important role in the treatment of malaria. Polymorphisms in the genes encoding the dihydrofolate reductase and dihydropteroate synthetase enzymes cause resistance to the antifol and sulfa drugs, respectively. Rwanda has the highest levels of antimalarial drug resistance in Africa. We correlated the efficacy of chlorproguanil-dapsone plus artesunate (CPG-DDS+A) and amodiaquine plus sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (AQ+SP) in children with uncomplicated malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum parasites with pfdhfr and pfdhps mutations, which are known to confer reduced drug susceptibility, in two areas of Rwanda. In the eastern province, where the cure rates were low, over 75% of isolates had three or more pfdhfr mutations and two or three pfdhps mutations and 11% had the

SUBMITTER: Karema C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2798539 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature