Therapeutic efficacy of chloroquine or amodiaquine in combination with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine for uncomplicated falciparum malaria in Papua New Guinea.

Resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to chloroquine is widespread in Papua New Guinea. At a meeting in Port Moresby in October 1997, it was decided to explore a possible change of the current first-line treatment of uncomplicated malaria with chloroquine alone (amodiaquine for children under five years) to chloroquine or amodiaquine in combination with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (S-P). To assess the therapeutic efficacy of the new drug combination in Papua New Guinea, a study was carried out in 1998-1999 at five hospital outpatient departments. From the 513 patients enrolled for the study, 95 defaulted from follow-up. Of the remaining 418, 399 (95.5%) had an adequate clinical response (ACR). Out of the 19 patients who did not have an ACR, 3 (0.7% of the total) developed severe signs in the first 24 hours and were treated in hospital; they were regarded as early treatment failures. The remaining 16 did not complete the study on the basis of various exclusion criteria but were not excluded from the analysis. From these results it was concluded that the combination was effective and a decision was taken in May 2000 to introduce the two-drug combination regimens as the standard first-line treatment of uncomplicated malaria, including falciparum malaria, in Papua New Guinea.