Artemether-lumefantrine treatment failure of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in travellers coming from Angola and Mozambique

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2021

Authors

Silva Pinto, A (Author) FMUP; Domingos, J (Author) Other; Cardoso, M (Author) Other; Reis, A (Author) Other; Benavente, ED (Author) Other; Caldas, JP (Author) Other; Conceicao, C (Author) Other; Toscano, C (Author) Other; Baptista Fernandes, T (Author) Other; Clark, TG (Author) Other; Mansinho, K (Author) Other; Campino, S (Author) Other; Nogueira, F (Author) Other

Journal

The Journal is awaiting validation by the Administrative Services.

Title: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Vol. 110

Pages: 151-154

ISSN: 1201-9712

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 1 Citation

Scopus - 2 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00V-KFG

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.07.008

Abstract (EN): The failure of artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) in malaria patients returning from endemic regions may be driven by parasite resistance to this treatment. ACT is used globally as the first-line treatment for Plasmodium falciparum malaria. However, artemisinin-resistant strains of P. falciparum have emerged and spread across Southeast Asia, with the risk of reaching high malaria burden regions in Africa and elsewhere. Here, we report on two malaria imported cases from Africa with possible parasite resistance to the ACT artemether-lumefantrine (AL). Case presentation: Two middle-aged males returning from Angola and Mozambique developed malaria symptoms in Portugal, where they were diagnosed and received treatment with AL as hospi-tal inpatients. After apparent cure and discharge from hospital, these individuals returned to hospital showing signs of late clinical failure. Molecular analysis was performed across a number of drug resis-tance associated genes. No evidence of pfk13-mediated artemisinin resistance was found. Both subjects had complete parasite clearance after treatment with non-ACT antimalarials. Conclusion: Our case-studies highlights the need for close monitoring of signs of unsatisfactory anti-malarial efficacy among AL treated patients and the possible implication of other genes or mutations in the parasite response to ACTs. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ )

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 4