The efficacy of chloroquine for the treatment of acute, uncomplicated, Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Laos.
To assess the local efficacy of chloroquine for the treatment of acute, uncomplicated, Plasmodium falciparum malaria, children and adults from Sekong province (an area of Laos with a low intensity of transmission) were tested in a 28-day, in-vivo study. Complete data were collected from 88 of the 102 subjects enrolled between October 1999 and September 2000. After genotypic analysis to distinguish recrudescing infections from re-infections, 35 (39.7%, with a 95% confidence interval of 29.5%-50.7%) of these 88 patients were considered treatment failures. These results seriously question the use of chloroquine as the first-line treatment for P. falciparum malaria in the study area.
Guthmann
J-P
JP
Epicentre, 8 rue Saint Sabin, 75011 Paris, France. jguthmann@epicentre.msf.org
Kasparian
S
S
Phetsouvanh
R
R
Nathan
N
N
Garcia
M
M
Phompida
S
S
Brockman
A
A
Gastellu
M
M
Legros
D
D
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002738:Chloroquine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007812:Laos; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000235:genetics; D011786:Quality Control; D012008:Recurrence; D017211:Treatment Failure; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000962:Antimalarials; D002738:Chloroquine