title: Frequency distribution of antimalarial drug resistance alleles among Plasmodium falciparum isolates from Gezira State, central Sudan, and Gedarif State, eastern Sudan.
abstract: In 2004, Sudan adopted artesunate + sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine (SP) combination as the first-line drug, in response to the high level of falciparum resistance to antimalarials. In 2007, a molecular study on antimalarial resistance linked genes, pfcrt, pfmdr1, pfdhfr, pfdhps, and pfATPase6, was conducted on 198 isolates from central and eastern Sudan. We observed a high frequency of point mutations at almost all loci analyzed, mainly of pfcrt 76T (72.7%), pfdhfr 51I (75.3%), and pfdhfr 108N (72.7%) alleles. The MARK III in vitro test for chloroquine sensitivity in 45 P. falciparum isolates showed that 37.8% of the isolates were low resistant and 6.7% were fully resistant. This study represents the most recent molecular investigation on antimalarial resistance in this area after the adoption of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT), and underlines the importance of the analysis of SP resistance evolution to monitor the efficacy of ACT therapy in endemic areas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immunomediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. michela.menegon@iss.it
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Menegon
authors.forename: Albadawi A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Talha
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Severini
authors.forename: Sayed M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Elbushra
authors.forename: Ahmed A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Mohamedani
authors.forename: Elfatih M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.forename: Tarig A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Mohamed
authors.forename: Walther H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Wernsdorfer
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Majori
authors.forename: Bakri Y M
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Nour
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004351:Drug Resistance / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D013397:Sudan / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials