BACKGROUND Malaria in pregnancy is serious, and drug resistance in Africa is spreading. Drugs have greater risks in pregnancy and determining the safety and efficacy of drugs in pregnancy is therefore a priority. This study set out to determine the efficacy and safety of several antimalarial drugs and combinations in pregnant women with uncomplicated malaria. METHODS Pregnant women with non-s...

CONTEXT Malaria accounts for 1-3 million deaths yearly worldwide, mostly in children under 5 years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. Laboratory and clinical studies show an association between acute malaria and a decreased response to diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and to meningococcal, salmonella, and Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccinations. Malaria treatment, chemoprophylaxis, or other forms o...

Malaria-related morbidity and mortality are greatest among young children in areas with high malaria transmission intensity. An open-label, randomized study was done to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the combination of atovaquone and proguanil formulated as pediatric-strength tablets (20 and 8 mg/kg of body weight, respectively, administered once daily for 3 days), compared with amodiaquin...

BACKGROUND Improved control efforts are reducing the burden of malaria in Africa but may result in decreased antimalarial immunity. METHODS A cohort of 129 children aged 1-10 years in Kampala, Uganda, were treated with amodiaquine plus sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine for 396 episodes of uncomplicated malaria over a 29-month period as part of a longitudinal clinical trial. RESULTS The risk of trea...

Malaria is a major public health problem in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Despite progress achieved over the past decade in the fight against malaria, further efforts have to be done such as in the surveillance and the containment of Plasmodium falciparum resistant strains. We investigated resistance to artemisinin-based combination therapies currently in use in Democratic Republic of Congo...

Background: This study investigated the prevalence of antimalarial drug resistance markers in P. falciparum isolates, involving the detection of mutations at the mdr1-86, which associates with amodiaquine resistance, and dhfr mutations associated with SP resistances. Methods: The dot-blot/probe hybridization was used to determine multidrug resistance (mdr1-86) and assess the correlation of Amod...

M alaria parasites can hijack red blood cells and escape immune defenses, producing a disease that causes tremendous rates of childhood mortality and disability, especially in Africa. Many medicines developed against malaria have lost efficacy, because the parasites evolve and gain resistance. Thomas E. Wellems, chief of the Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research in the Division of Intramura...