Primaquine clears submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes that persist after treatment with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine and artesunate. [Therapeutic efficacy of a regimen of artesunate-mefloquine-primaquine treatment for Plasmodium falciparum malaria and treatment effects on gametocytic development]. Reduction of malaria transmission to Anopheles mosquitoes with a six-dose regimen of co-artemether. Defining Plasmodium falciparum treatment in South West Asia: a randomized trial comparing artesunate or primaquine combined with chloroquine or SP. A randomized controlled trial of artemether/benflumetol, a new antimalarial and pyrimethamine/sulfadoxine in the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in African children. Combined chloroquine, sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine and primaquine against Plasmodium falciparum in Central Java, Indonesia. A randomized open-label trial of artesunate- sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine with or without primaquine for elimination of sub-microscopic P. falciparum parasitaemia and gametocyte carriage in eastern Sudan. Artemether-lumefantrine versus dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine for treatment of malaria: a randomized trial. Gametocytaemia in Senegalese children with uncomplicated falciparum malaria treated with chloroquine, amodiaquine or sulfadoxine + pyrimethamine.
P. falciparum gametocytes may persist after treatment with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) plus artesunate (AS) and contribute considerably to malaria transmission. We determined the efficacy of SP+AS plus a single dose of primaquine (PQ, 0.75 mg/kg) on clearing gametocytaemia measured by molecular methods.
                The study was conducted in Mnyuzi, an area of hyperendemic malaria in north-eastern Tanzania. Children aged 3-15 years with uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria with an asexual parasite density between 500-100,000 parasites/microL were randomized to receive treatment with either SP+AS or SP+AS+PQ. P. falciparum gametocyte prevalence and density during the 42-day follow-up period were determined by real-time nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (QT-NASBA). Haemoglobin levels (Hb) were determined to address concerns about haemolysis in G6PD-deficient individuals.
                108 individuals were randomized. Pfs25 QT-NASBA gametocyte prevalence was 88-91% at enrolment and decreased afterwards for both treatment arms. Gametocyte prevalence and density were significantly lower in children treated with SP+AS+PQ. On day 14 after treatment 3.9% (2/51) of the SP+AS+PQ treated children harboured gametocytes compared to 62.7% (32/51) of those treated with SP+AS (p<0.001). Hb levels were reduced in the week following treatment with SP+AS+PQ and this reduction was related to G6PD deficiency. The Hb levels of all patients recovered to pre-treatment levels or greater within one month after treatment.
                PQ clears submicroscopic gametocytes after treatment with SP+AS and the persisting gametocytes circulated at densities that are unlikely to contribute to malaria transmission. For individuals without severe anaemia, addition of a single dose of PQ to an efficacious antimalarial drug combination is a safe approach to reduce malaria transmission following treatment.
                Controlled-Trials.com ISRCTN61534963. The treatment of Plasmodium falciparum malaria requires a safe and effective therapeutic treatment regimen, which in turn has high impact on the transmission. In 2006, an artesunate (AS)-mefloquine (MQ) treatment program was implemented in Antioquia. In addition, primaquine (PQ) was added to eliminate malaria gametocytes in the bloodstream.
                The efficacy and gametocytocidal activity was evaluated for two treatment regimens, AS-MQ-PQ and AS-MQ, in patients with uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria.
                Between April 2007 and February 2008, 50 patients were recruited for the trial in Turbo, Antioquia. A randomized clinical trial was conducted. Treatment compliance was supervised, with a clinical and parasitological assessment on days 1, 2, 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, and 42 to evaluate response rate according to the WHO 2003 protocol.
                Clinical response and parasite elimination efficacy of AS-MQ (with or without PQ) was 100% (95% CI 86.3%-100%), and parasitemia and fever were absent on day 3 of treatment in all patients. Gametocyte elimination was superior when PQ was used--92% (95% CI: 74%-99%) of patients who received PQ had no gametocytes on day 3, compared to 78.3% (95% CI: 59%-93%) of patients who only received AS-MQ. Furthermore, circulating gametocytes were eliminated on average one week faster when the AS-MQ-PQ treatment scheme was used compared to the scheme without PQ.
                These studies recommend the use of AS-MQ to treat P. falciparum malaria given its good therapeutic efficacy. However, further assessment is suggested concerning the benefit of adding PQ to this treatment scheme. 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 so prevent selective transmission of parasites resistant to any of the partner drugs.
                In a randomised controlled trial, 497 children with uncomplicated falciparum malaria were treated with CQ and SP (three doses and one dose respectively; n = 91), or six doses of artemether in fixed combination with lumefantrine (co-artemether [Coartem, Riamet]) (n = 406). Carriage rates of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes and trophozoites were measured 7, 14, and 28 d after treatment. The infectiousness of venous blood from 29 children carrying P. falciparum gametocytes 7 d after treatment was tested by membrane-feeding of Anopheles mosquitoes. Children treated with co-artemether were significantly less likely to carry gametocytes within the 4 weeks following treatment than those receiving CQ/SP (30 of 378 [7.94%] versus 42 of 86 [48.8%]; p < 0.0001). Carriers in the co-artemether group harboured gametocytes at significantly lower densities, for shorter periods (0.3 d versus 4.2 d; p < 0.0001) and were less infectious to mosquitoes at day 7 (p < 0.001) than carriers who had received CQ/SP.
                Co-artemether is highly effective at preventing post-treatment transmission of P. falciparum. Our results suggest that co-artemether has specific activity against immature sequestered gametocytes, and has the capacity to minimise transmission of drug-resistant parasites. Antimalarial resistance has led to a global policy of artemisinin-based combination therapy. Despite growing resistance chloroquine (CQ) remained until recently the official first-line treatment for falciparum malaria in Pakistan, with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) second-line. Co-treatment with the gametocytocidal primaquine (PQ) is recommended for transmission control in South Asia. The relative effect of artesunate (AS) or primaquine, as partner drugs, on clinical outcomes and gametocyte carriage in this setting were unknown.
                A single-blinded, randomized trial among Afghan refugees in Pakistan compared six treatment arms: CQ; CQ+(single-dose)PQ; CQ+(3 d)AS; SP; SP+(single-dose)PQ, and SP+(3 d)AS. The objectives were to compare treatment failure rates and effect on gametocyte carriage, of CQ or SP monotherapy against the respective combinations (PQ or AS). Outcomes included trophozoite and gametocyte clearance (read by light microscopy), and clinical and parasitological failure.
                A total of 308 (87%) patients completed the trial. Failure rates by day 28 were: CQ 55/68 (81%); CQ+AS 19/67 (28%), SP 4/41 (9.8%), SP+AS 1/41 (2.4%). The addition of PQ to CQ or SP did not affect failure rates (CQ+PQ 49/67 (73%) failed; SP+PQ 5/33 (16%) failed). AS was superior to PQ at clearing gametocytes; gametocytes were seen on d7 in 85% of CQ, 40% of CQ+PQ, 21% of CQ+AS, 91% of SP, 76% of SP+PQ and 23% of SP+AS treated patients. PQ was more effective at clearing older gametocyte infections whereas AS was more effective at preventing emergence of mature gametocytes, except in cases that recrudesced.
                CQ is no longer appropriate by itself or in combination. These findings influenced the replacement of CQ with SP+AS for first-line treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. The threat of SP resistance remains as SP monotherapy is still common. Three day AS was superior to single-dose PQ for reducing gametocyte carriage.
                ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00959517. We report here the results of a randomized double blind trial comparing coartemether (CGP56697), a combination of artemether and benflumetol, with pyrimethamine/sulfadoxine (P/S). Two hundred eighty-seven children 1-5 years of age with uncomplicated falciparum malaria were enrolled at two centers in The Gambia between July 1996 and December 1996. Following treatment, children were visited at home every 24 hr until a blood film free of asexual parasites was obtained. Genotyping of parasites was used to distinguish recrudescence from new infections. Three days after the start of treatment, 133 (100%) of the CGP56697-treated children compared with 128 (93.4%) of children treated with P/S had cleared their parasites (P = 0.003). The day 15 cure rate was 93.3% for CGP56697 and 97.7% for P/S (P = 0.13). Within the third and fourth week after initiation of therapy, 20 children treated with CGP56697 and one of the P/S-treated children returned with second malaria episodes (P < 0.0001). Genotyping suggested that the majority (19 of 23 [82.6%]) of these second episodes were due to new infections, supporting the World Health Organization recommendation that longer follow-up is not relevant for the assessment of drug efficacy. At the two-week follow-up, 28.9% of the P/S treated children but none of the CGP56697-treated children carried gametocytes (P < 0.0001). This study showed that CGP56697 is safe in African children with acute uncomplicated falciparum malaria, clears parasites more rapidly than P/S, and results in fewer gametocyte carriers. More frequent new infections within the third and fourth week following treatment with CGP56697 than treatment with P/S are likely to be due to the short prophylactic effect of CGP56697. Chloroquine (CQ) or sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) monotherapy for Plasmodium falciparum often leads to therapeutic failure in Indonesia. Combining CQ with other drugs, like SP, may provide an affordable, available and effective option where artemisinin-combined therapies (ACT) are not licensed or are unavailable.
                This study compared CQ (n = 29 subjects) versus CQ + SP (with or without primaquine; n = 88) for clinical and parasitological cure of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in the Menoreh Hills region of southern Central Java, Indonesia. Gametocyte clearance rates were measured with (n = 56 subjects) and without (n = 61) a single 45 mg dose of primaquine (PQ).
                After 28 days, 58% of subjects receiving CQ had cleared parasitaemia and remained aparasitaemic, compared to 94% receiving CQ combined with SP (p < 0.001). Msp-2 genotyping permitted reinfection-adjusted cure rates for CQ and CQ combined with SP, 70% and 99%, respectively (p = 0.0006).
                Primaquine exerted no apparent affect on cure of asexual stage parasitaemia, but clearly accelerated clearance of gametocytes. CQ combined with SP was safe and well-tolerated with superior efficacy over CQ for P. falciparum parasitaemia in this study. In areas of seasonal malaria transmission, treatment of asymptomatic carriers of malaria parasites, whose parasitaemia persists at low densities throughout the dry season, could be a useful strategy for malaria control. We carried out a randomized trial to compare two drug regimens for clearance of parasitaemia in order to identify the optimum regimen for use in mass drug administration in the dry season.
                A two-arm open-label randomized controlled trial was conducted during the dry season in an area of distinct seasonal malaria in two villages in Gedarif State in eastern Sudan. Participants were asymptomatic adults and children aged over 6 months, with low-density P. falciparum infection detected by PCR. Participants were randomized to receive artesunate/sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (AS+SP) combination for three days with or without a dose of primaquine (PQ) on the fourth day. Parasitaemia detected by PCR on days 3, 7 and 14 after the start of treatment and gametocytes detected by RT-PCR on days 7 and 14 were then recorded. 104 individuals who had low density parasitaemia at screening were randomized and treated during the dry season. On day 7, 8.3% were positive by PCR in the AS+SP+PQ group and 6.5% in the AS+SP group (risk difference 1.8%, 95%CI -10.3% to +13.8%). At enrolment, 12% (12/100) were carrying gametocytes. This was reduced to 6.4% and 4.4% by day 14 (Risk difference 1.9% (95%CI -9.3% to +13.2%) in AS+SP+PQ and AS+SP groups, respectively.
                Addition of primaquine to artemisinin combination treatment did not improve elimination of parasitaemia and prevention of gametocyte carriage in carriers with low-density parasitaemia in the dry season.
                ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00330902. To compare the efficacy and safety of artemether-lumefantrine (AL) and dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) for treating uncomplicated falciparum malaria in Uganda.
                Randomized single-blinded clinical trial.
                Apac, Uganda, an area of very high malaria transmission intensity.
                Children aged 6 mo to 10 y with uncomplicated falciparum malaria.
                Treatment of malaria with AL or DP, each following standard 3-d dosing regimens.
                Risks of recurrent parasitemia at 28 and 42 d, unadjusted and adjusted by genotyping to distinguish recrudescences and new infections.
                Of 421 enrolled participants, 417 (99%) completed follow-up. The unadjusted risk of recurrent falciparum parasitemia was significantly lower for participants treated with DP than for those treated with AL after 28 d (11% versus 29%; risk difference [RD] 18%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 11%-26%) and 42 d (43% versus 53%; RD 9.6%, 95% CI 0%-19%) of follow-up. Similarly, the risk of recurrent parasitemia due to possible recrudescence (adjusted by genotyping) was significantly lower for participants treated with DP than for those treated with AL after 28 d (1.9% versus 8.9%; RD 7.0%, 95% CI 2.5%-12%) and 42 d (6.9% versus 16%; RD 9.5%, 95% CI 2.8%-16%). Patients treated with DP had a lower risk of recurrent parasitemia due to non-falciparum species, development of gametocytemia, and higher mean increase in hemoglobin compared to patients treated with AL. Both drugs were well tolerated; serious adverse events were uncommon and unrelated to study drugs.
                DP was superior to AL for reducing the risk of recurrent parasitemia and gametocytemia, and provided improved hemoglobin recovery. DP thus appears to be a good alternative to AL as first-line treatment of uncomplicated malaria in Uganda. To maximize the benefit of artemisinin-based combination therapy in Africa, treatment should be integrated with aggressive strategies to reduce malaria transmission intensity. Plasmodium falciparum gametocytaemia was studied in 266 Senegalese children (median 4 years, range 0.5-16) with uncomplicated malaria treated with chloroquine (CQ), amodiaquine (AQ) or sulfadoxine + pyrimethamine (SP). The proportion of resistant infections in vivo to these drugs was 44%, 16% and 7%, respectively. Gametocytes were counted by microscopy in thick smears on days 0, 4, 7 and 14 after treatment. There was a peak of gametocytaemia one week after treatment; on days 0, 7 and 14 the gametocyte prevalences were 35%, 73% and 63%, and the geometric means of gametocyte densities were 1.3, 12.5 and 5.6/microliter of blood. Three factors were found to influence gametocytaemia: treatment, efficacy of treatment, and duration of symptoms before treatment. Gametocyte prevalence and density significantly appeared higher in children treated with SP than with CQ, and higher with CQ than with AQ. Gametocyte prevalence and density were higher in resistant than in sensitive infections. The period between the appearance of the first clinical symptoms and treatment was positively and significantly linked to gametocyte prevalence and density on days 0 and 4. Early treatment with AQ, against sensitive infection, was followed by the lowest gametocytaemia. By contrast, treatment with SP against resistant infection was followed by the highest gametocytaemia. No clear relationship was observed between the density of asexual stages on day 0 and the gametocytaemia at any day between days 0 and 14. The epidemiological significance of post-therapeutic gametocytaemia and its possible role in the spread of resistant parasites are underlined. Solutions are proposed in order to avoid or reduce this gametocytaemia.
We do not know whether PQ added to treatment regimens for patients with P. falciparum infection reduces transmission of malaria. In individual patients, it reduces gametocyte prevalence and density. In practical terms, even if PQ results in large reductions in gametocytes in people being treated for malaria, there is no reliable evidence that this will reduce transmission in a malaria-endemic community, where many people are infected but have no symptoms and are unlikely to be treated. Since PQ is acting as a monotherapy against gametocytes, there is a risk of the parasite developing resistance to the drug. In terms of harms, there is insufficient evidence from trials to know whether the drug can be used safely in this way in populations where G6PD deficiency occurs.
In light of these doubts about safety, and lack of evidence of any benefit in reducing transmission, countries should question whether to continue to use PQ routinely in primary treatment of malaria. Further synthesis of observational data on safety and new trials may help elucidate a role for PQ in malaria elimination, or in situations where most infected individuals are symptomatic and receive treatment.