Artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) with artemether lumefantrine (AL) is currently the first line treatment policy in Tanzania. AL is an efficacious drug that also has the capacity to reduce malaria transmission to mosquitoes. Nevertheless, there is concern about the development of parasite resistance against AL and there have been very few clinical trials that compared different ACT regimens. A recent clinical trial shows that the combination of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) may be more efficacious than AL and may have a more pronounced beneficial effect on post-treatment malaria transmission. Screening for molecular markers that are related to parasite susceptibility to ACT drugs and to post-ACT treatment malaria transmission can assist in preventing the development and spread of ACT resistance. In the current study, the investigators compared AL and DP for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria. The investigators endpoints are - clinical efficacy - post-treatment gametocytaemia by molecular techniques - post-treatment malaria transmission.
Name: Artemether-Lumefantrine
Description: Treatment with artemether-lumefantrine (AL; Coartem; Novartis Pharma), administered as half a tablet (20 mg of artemether and 120 mg of lumefantrine) per 5 kg of body weight in a 6-dose regimen (at enrolment and 8, 20, 32, 44, and 56 h [+/-90 min] after the initiation of treatment). AL is currently the first line treatment in TanzaniaType: Drug1
Name: Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine
Description: Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP; Artekin; Duocotexin, Holley Pharm, 40 mg dihydroartemisinin/320 mg piperaquine tablets), with a dihydroartemisinin dose of 2.5 mg per kilogram and a piperaquine phosphate dose of 20 mg per kilogram daily for 3 days. DH is registered in Tanzania as Artekin and has been tested extensively in Asia and recently in clinical trials in Uganda and RwandaType: Drug2
Allocation: Randomized
Parallel Assignment
There is one SNP
This resistance was associated with SNPs at codon S769N of the ATPase6 locus of P. falciparum. --- S769N ---