Ex vivo responses of Plasmodium falciparum clinical isolates to conventional and new antimalarial drugs in Niger

Abstract

Little is known about resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to antimalarials in Sahelian countries. Here we investigated the drug susceptibilities of fresh isolates collected in Niger post-deployment of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs). We found that the parasites remained highly susceptible to new (dihydroartemisinin, lumefantrine, pyronaridine, and piperaquine) and conventional (amodiaquine and chloroquine) antimalarial drugs. The introduction of ACTs in 2005 and their further deployment nationwide have therefore not resulted in a decrease in P. falciparum susceptibilities to these antimalarials.

Fig 1

ApoI restriction digestion of Pfcrt fragments and genotype distribution among Nigerien isolates. Sample identification numbers (#ID) and the IC₅₀ of CQ are indicated. For each sample, the first and second lanes correspond to undigested and ApoI-digested PCR products, respectively. M, SmartLadder SF (Eurogentec).