Recrudescence, Reinfection, or Relapse? A More Rigorous Framework to Assess Chloroquine Efficacy for Plasmodium vivax Malaria.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Plasmodium vivax resistance to chloroquine (CQ) has been reported worldwide, although the World Health Organization clinical drug efficacy studies protocol does not permit classification of patient outcomes.

Methods

We enrolled 40 patients with P. vivax malaria in northeastern Cambodia, where >17% treatment failures were previously reported. Patients were treated with CQ (30 mg/kg) and followed for 2 months, with frequent clinical examination and capillary blood sample collection for microscopy, molecular parasite detection and genotyping, and drug concentration measurements. Reinfections were prevented by relocating patients to a transmission-free area.

Results

P. vivax parasites were eliminated in all patients by day 3. Genomic analyses revealed that all

SUBMITTER: Popovici J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6306015 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature