The main purpose of the study was to compare the in vitro sensitivity results obtained from the two widely-used in vitro systems: (1) standard WHO micro-technique based on schizont maturation inhibition using fresh isolates (M-I), and (2) micro-technique based on incorporation of [3H]-hypoxanthine using culture-adapted isolates (M-II). The study was conducted during 1998 and 2002. A total of 47...

Malaria remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in tropical countries and subtropical regions in the world. Southeast Asia has the most resistant malaria parasites in the world, which has limited treatment options in this region. In response to this situation, short-course artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) have been developed. The combination of dihydroartemisinin (DHA) an...

OBJECTIVE To assess the prevalence of counterfeit antimalarial drugs in Southeast (SE) Asia. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. SETTING Pharmacies and shops selling antimalarial drugs in Myanmar (Burma), Lao PDR, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Proportion of artemisinin derivatives or mefloquine containing drugs of substandard quality. RESULTS Of the 188 tablet packs p...

The in vitro antimalarial activity of the new Chinese synthetic drug, lumefantrine, also known as benflumetol (a fluorene derivative belonging to the aminoalcohol class), was determined by an isotopic microtest against 61 fresh clinical isolates of Plasmodium falciparum and compared with that of other established antimalarial agents. The geometric mean 50% inhibitory concentration of lumefantri...

An assay was developed measuring the disruption of rosettes between Plasmodium falciparuminfected (trophozoites) and uninfected erythrocytes by the antimalarial drugs quinine, artemisinin mefloquine, primaquine, pyrimethamine, chloroquine and proguanil. At 4 hr incubation rosettes were disrupted by all the drugs in a dose dependent manner. Artemisinin and quinine were the most effective anti-ma...