Absence of putative artemisinin resistance mutations among Plasmodium falciparum in Sub-Saharan Africa: a molecular epidemiologic study.

ABSTRACT: Plasmodium falciparum parasites that are resistant to artemisinins have been detected in Southeast Asia. Resistance is associated with several polymorphisms in the parasite's K13-propeller gene. The molecular epidemiology of these artemisinin resistance genotypes in African parasite populations is unknown. We developed an assay to quantify rare polymorphisms in parasite populations that uses a pooled deep-sequencing approach to score allele frequencies, validated it by evaluating mixtures of laboratory parasite strains, and then used it to screen P. falciparum parasites from >1100 African infections collected since 2002 from 14 sites across sub-Saharan Africa. We found no mutations in African parasite populations that are associated with artemisinin resistance in Southeast Asian parasites.

SUBMITTER: Taylor SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4402372 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature