High efficacy of primaquine treatment for Plasmodium vivax in Western Thailand
Details
Publication Year 2016-09-06,Volume 95,Issue #5,Page 1086-1089
Journal Title
American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Publication Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Primaquine is the only licensed antimalarial drug that is capable of clearing dormant Plasmodium vivax liver stage parasites. To date, there is no clear evidence of resistance of the liver stage parasite against this drug, because of the difficulty in ascertaining the cause of recurrent infection. We followed 52 Thai P. vivax patients for 9 months after directly observed treatment of 15 mg primaquine daily for 14 days. Blood samples taken at 2-4 weekly intervals were assessed by microscopy and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of parasites. Only four of 52 (7.7%) volunteers had recurrent P. vivax infections, all at least 8 weeks after treatment. This demonstrates that primaquine retains a high efficacy in this population. Although a risk of new infections could not be ruled out, parasite genotyping at two polymorphic markers suggested a high probability of late relapsing infections in these volunteers. Continued monitoring of primaquine efficacy in this region is advisable.
Publisher
ASTMH
Research Division(s)
Population Health And Immunity
PubMed ID
27601524
NHMRC Grants
NHMRC/1043345
Terms of Use/Rights Notice
Refer to copyright notice on published article.


Creation Date: 2016-10-03 03:38:07
Last Modified: 2018-07-11 09:20:27
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