The combination of artemether (ARM) and lumefantrine is currently the first-line treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in mainland Tanzania. While the exposure to lumefantrine has been associated with the probability of adequate clinical and parasitological cure, increasing exposure to artemether and the active metabolite dihydroartemisinin (DHA) has been shown to decrease the parasite ...

BACKGROUND Resistance of malaria parasites to chloroquine (CQ) and sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) is increasing in prevalence in Africa. Combination therapy can both improve treatment and provide important public health benefits if it curbs the spread of parasites harbouring resistance genes. Thus, drug combinations must be identified which minimise gametocyte emergence in treated cases, and s...

BACKGROUND Artemether-lumefantrine is the most widely used artemisinin-based combination therapy for malaria, although treatment failures occur in some regions. We investigated the effect of dosing strategy on efficacy in a pooled analysis from trials done in a wide range of malaria-endemic settings. METHODS We searched PubMed for clinical trials that enrolled and treated patients with arteme...

The simian parasite Plasmodium knowlesi causes severe human malaria; the optimal treatment remains unknown. We describe the clinical features, disease spectrum, and response to antimalarial chemotherapy, including artemether-lumefantrine and artesunate, in patients with P. knowlesi malaria diagnosed by PCR during December 2007-November 2009 at a tertiary care hospital in Sabah, Malaysia. Fifty-...

BACKGROUND WHO recommends combinations of an artemisinin derivative plus an antimalarial drug of longer half-life as treatment options for uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum infection. In Africa, artemether-lumefantrine is the most widely used artemisinin-based combination therapy, whereas artesunate-mefloquine is used infrequently because of a perceived poor tolerance to mefloquine. WHO recom...

Treatment of malaria in HIV-infected individuals receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) poses significant challenges. Artemether-lumefantrine (AL) is one of the artemisisnin-based combination therapies recommended for treatment of malaria. The drug combination is highly efficacious against sensitive and multidrug resistant falciparum malaria. Both artemether and lumefantrine are metabolized by ...

BACKGROUND Irrational prescribing and dispensing of antimalarials has been identified as a contributing factor in the emergence of malaria parasites resistant to existing antimalarial drugs. Factors that contribute to such irrational prescribing and dispensing should therefore be identified to address this problem. The aim of this study was to assess irrational antimalarial drug dispensing and ...

The Rufiji Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) was established in October 1998 to evaluate the impact on burden of disease of health system reforms based on locally generated data, prioritization, resource allocation and planning for essential health interventions. The Rufiji HDSS collects detailed information on health and survival and provides a framework for population-based he...

The effect of sublethal concentrations of the antihelminthic plant derivative, dihydroartemisinin methyl ether (Artemether) on the infectivity of the larval stages of Schistosoma haematobium to Bulinus truncatus and to hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) and certain physiological parameters of B. truncatus snails was studied. The results obtained showed infectivity of B. truncatus to infection with ...

AIM Drug-drug interactions between antimalarial and antiretroviral drugs may influence antimalarial treatment outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential drug-drug interactions between the antimalarial drugs, lumefantrine, artemether and their respective metabolites desbutyl-lumefantrine and dihydroartemisinin, and the HIV drugs efavirenz, nevirapine and lopinavir/ritonavir...