title: Can estimates of antimalarial efficacy from field studies be improved?
abstract: Monitoring therapeutic efficacy of antimalarial drugs is important because treatment failure rates are the primary basis for changing antimalarial treatment policy. An important aspect of efficacy studies is the use of PCR genotyping to distinguish recrudescent from new infections. The conclusions reached using this technique might be misleading if there is insufficient parasite diversity or a non-uniform haplotype frequency distribution in the study area. Statistical techniques can be used to overcome this problem, but only when data describing the haplotype frequency distribution are available. Therefore, assessing haplotype frequency and distribution should form an integral part of all studies investigating the therapeutic efficacy of antimalarial treatment regimes.
authors.affiliation: Malaria Drug Resistance and Chemotherapy Laboratory, The Queensland Institute of Medical Research, PO Royal Brisbane Hospital, Herston, Queensland 4029, Australia. michelle.gatton@qimr.edu.au
authors.forename: Michelle L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Gatton
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Cheng
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004351:Drug Resistance; D005787:Gene Frequency; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000469:parasitology; D016780:Malaria, Vivax / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000469:parasitology; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D010966:Plasmodium vivax / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017211:Treatment Failure; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D000962:Antimalarials