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. 2013 May;88(5):850-4.
doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.12-0671. Epub 2013 Mar 4.

Efficacy of chloroquine for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Honduras

Rosa Elena Mejia Torres  1 , Engels Ilich Banegas, Meisy Mendoza, Cesar Diaz, Sandra Tamara Mancero Bucheli, Gustavo A Fontecha, Md Tauqeer Alam, Ira Goldman, Venkatachalam Udhayakumar, Jose Orlinder Nicolas Zambrano
Affiliations

Efficacy of chloroquine for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Honduras

Rosa Elena Mejia Torres et al. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2013 May.

Abstract

Chloroquine (CQ) is officially used for the primary treatment of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Honduras. In this study, the therapeutic efficacy of CQ for the treatment of uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria in the municipality of Puerto Lempira, Gracias a Dios, Honduras was evaluated using the Pan American Health Organization-World Health Organization protocol with a follow-up of 28 days. Sixty-eight patients from 6 months to 60 years of age microscopically diagnosed with uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria were included in the final analysis. All patients who were treated with CQ (25 mg/kg over 3 days) cleared parasitemia by day 3 and acquired no new P. falciparum infection within 28 days of follow-up. All the parasite samples sequenced for CQ resistance mutations (pfcrt) showed only the CQ-sensitive genotype (CVMNK). This finding shows that CQ remains highly efficacious for the treatment of uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria in Gracias a Dios, Honduras.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Map of Honduras showing the study site for in vivo drug efficacy study in Puerto Lempira, Honduras.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Flowchart of the enrolment process for in vivo drug efficacy study based on microscopic diagnosis in Puerto Lempira, Honduras.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Number of study participants with fever (> 37.5°C) by day of observation in the in vivo drug efficacy study in Puerto Lempira, Honduras.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Geometric means of asexual parasite density by day of observation in the in vivo drug efficacy study in Puerto Lempira, Honduras.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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