Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Background
Artemisinin resistance, a long parasite clearance half-life in response to artemisinin, has been described in patients with Plasmodium falciparum malaria in southeast Asia. Few baseline half-lives have been reported from Africa, where artemisinins were recently introduced.Methods
We treated P. falciparum malaria in 215 Malian children aged 0.5-15 years with artesunate (0, 24, 48 hours) and amodiaquine (72, 96, 120 hours). We estimated half-life by measuring parasite density every 6 hours until undetectable and evaluated the effects of age, sex, ethnicity, and red blood cell (RBC) polymorphisms on half-life. We quantified the proportion of parasitized RBCs recognized by autologous immunoglobulin G (IgG).Results
The geometric mean half-life was 1.9 hours (95% confidence interval, 1.8-2.0) and did not correlate with parasite ex vivo susceptibility to artemisinins. In a linear model accounting for host factors, half-life decreased by 4.1 minutes for every 1-year increase in age. The proportion of parasitized RBCs recognized by IgG correlated inversely with half-life (r = -0.475; P = .0006).Conclusions
Parasite clearance in response to artesunate is faster in Mali than in southeast Asia. IgG responses to parasitized RBCs shorten half-life and may influence this parameter in areas where age is not an adequate surrogate of immunity and correlates of parasite-clearing immunity have not been identified.Clinical trials registration
NCT00669084.
SUBMITTER: Lopera-Mesa TM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3636783 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
The Journal of infectious diseases 20130228 11
<h4>Background</h4>Artemisinin resistance, a long parasite clearance half-life in response to artemisinin, has been described in patients with Plasmodium falciparum malaria in southeast Asia. Few baseline half-lives have been reported from Africa, where artemisinins were recently introduced.<h4>Methods</h4>We treated P. falciparum malaria in 215 Malian children aged 0.5-15 years with artesunate (0, 24, 48 hours) and amodiaquine (72, 96, 120 hours). We estimated half-life by measuring parasite de ...[more]