Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jun;31(6):1211-1215.
doi: 10.3201/eid3106.241810.

High Prevalence of Artemisinin-Resistant Plasmodium falciparum, Southeastern Sudan

Mariangela L'Episcopia, Albadawi A Talha, Bakri Y M Nour, Ibrahim Mohamed Ahmed Sana, Emmanuelle Caspar, Lucas Thiebaut, Lucien Platon, Buze Chala, Laurence Ma, Lemu Golassa, Edvige Perrotti, Carlo Severini, Didier Menard

High Prevalence of Artemisinin-Resistant Plasmodium falciparum, Southeastern Sudan

Mariangela L'Episcopia et al. Emerg Infect Dis. 2025 Jun.

Abstract

We conducted a hospital-based cross-sectional study of Plasmodium falciparum in 2017 in southeastern Sudan. Among 257 P. falciparum samples, we found 22% harbored the pfkelch13 R622I mutation and 10.7% showed hrp2/3 gene deletions. Our findings highlight the urgent need for enhanced surveillance of drug- and diagnostic-resistant parasites in the Horn of Africa.

Keywords: Artemisinin; Plasmodium falciparum; Sudan; antimicrobial resistance; parasites.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure
Figure
Distribution of artemisinin-resistant Plasmodium falciparum, southeastern Sudan, 2017. Percentages of Pfkelch13 R622 and Pfkelch13 622I P. falciparum parasites with no hrp2/3 deletion, hrp2 deletion, hrp3 deletion, and hrp2/3 deletion are shown for Sudan and the 2 study sites, Al Jazirah and Al Qadarif.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization. World malarial report 2024: addressing inequity in the global malaria response. [cited 2025 Feb 4]. https://www.who.int/teams/global-malaria-programme/reports/world-malaria...
    1. Ariey F, Witkowski B, Amaratunga C, Beghain J, Langlois AC, Khim N, et al. A molecular marker of artemisinin-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Nature. 2014;505:50–5. 10.1038/nature12876 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ashley EA, Dhorda M, Fairhurst RM, Amaratunga C, Lim P, Suon S, et al. ; Tracking Resistance to Artemisinin Collaboration (TRAC). Spread of artemisinin resistance in Plasmodium falciparum malaria. N Engl J Med. 2014;371:411–23. 10.1056/NEJMoa1314981 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dondorp AM, Nosten F, Yi P, Das D, Phyo AP, Tarning J, et al. Artemisinin resistance in Plasmodium falciparum malaria. N Engl J Med. 2009;361:455–67. 10.1056/NEJMoa0808859 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Conrad MD, Asua V, Garg S, Giesbrecht D, Niaré K, Smith S, et al. Evolution of partial resistance to artemisinins in malaria parasites in Uganda. N Engl J Med. 2023;389:722–32. 10.1056/NEJMoa2211803 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources