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ABSTRACT: Background
The majority of Plasmodium falciparum malaria cases in Africa are treated with the artemisinin combination therapies artemether-lumefantrine (AL) and artesunate-amodiaquine (AS-AQ), with amodiaquine being also widely used as part of seasonal malaria chemoprevention programs combined with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. While artemisinin derivatives have a short half-life, lumefantrine and amodiaquine may give rise to differing durations of post-treatment prophylaxis, an important additional benefit to patients in higher transmission areas.Methods
We analyzed individual patient data from 8 clinical trials of AL versus AS-AQ in 12 sites in Africa (n?=?4214 individuals). The time to PCR-confirmed reinfection after treatment was used to estimate the duration of post-treatment protection, accounting for variation in transmission intensity between settings using hidden semi-Markov models. Accelerated failure-time models were used to identify potential effects of covariates on the time to reinfection. The estimated duration of chemoprophylaxis was then used in a mathematical model of malaria transmission to determine the potential public health impact of each drug when used for first-line treatment.Results
We estimated a mean duration of post-treatment protection of 13.0?days (95% CI 10.7-15.7) for AL and 15.2?days (95% CI 12.8-18.4) for AS-AQ overall. However, the duration varied significantly between trial sites, from 8.7-18.6?days for AL and 10.2-18.7?days for AS-AQ. Significant predictors of time to reinfection in multivariable models were transmission intensity, age, drug, and parasite genotype. Where wild type pfmdr1 and pfcrt parasite genotypes predominated (<=20% 86Y and 76T mutants, respectively), AS-AQ provided ~?2-fold longer protection than AL. Conversely, at a higher prevalence of 86Y and 76T mutant parasites (>?80%), AL provided up to 1.5-fold longer protection than AS-AQ. Our simulations found that these differences in the duration of protection could alter population-level clinical incidence of malaria by up to 14% in under-5-year-old children when the drugs were used as first-line treatments in areas with high, seasonal transmission.Conclusion
Choosing a first-line treatment which provides optimal post-treatment prophylaxis given the local prevalence of resistance-associated markers could make a significant contribution to reducing malaria morbidity.
SUBMITTER: Bretscher MT
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7043031 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Bretscher Michael T MT Dahal Prabin P Griffin Jamie J Stepniewska Kasia K Bassat Quique Q Baudin Elisabeth E D'Alessandro Umberto U Djimde Abdoulaye A AA Dorsey Grant G Espié Emmanuelle E Fofana Bakary B González Raquel R Juma Elizabeth E Karema Corine C Lasry Estrella E Lell Bertrand B Lima Nines N Menéndez Clara C Mombo-Ngoma Ghyslain G Moreira Clarissa C Nikiema Frederic F Ouédraogo Jean B JB Staedke Sarah G SG Tinto Halidou H Valea Innocent I Yeka Adoke A Ghani Azra C AC Guerin Philippe J PJ Okell Lucy C LC
BMC medicine 20200225 1
<h4>Background</h4>The majority of Plasmodium falciparum malaria cases in Africa are treated with the artemisinin combination therapies artemether-lumefantrine (AL) and artesunate-amodiaquine (AS-AQ), with amodiaquine being also widely used as part of seasonal malaria chemoprevention programs combined with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. While artemisinin derivatives have a short half-life, lumefantrine and amodiaquine may give rise to differing durations of post-treatment prophylaxis, an important a ...[more]