Persistence of Residual Submicroscopic P. falciparum Parasitemia following Treatment of Artemether-Lumefantrine in Ethio-Sudan Border, Western Ethiopia
Geletta Tadele, Fatou Jaiteh, Mary Aigbiremo Oboh, Eniyou Oriero, Sisay Dugassa, Alfred Amambua‐Ngwa, Lemu Golassa
Abstract
= 0.027). Only two patients met the case definition of treatment failure. These patients were classified as a late clinical failure as they showed symptoms of malaria and asexual stages of the parasite detected by microscopy on day 14 of their follow-ups. Hence, the Kaplan-Meier analysis of PCR- corrected adequate clinical and parasitological response (ACPR) rate of AL among study participants was 96% (95% CI: 84.9-99). In seven patients, the residual submicroscopic parasitemia persists from day 0 to day 28 of the follow-up. In addition, 16% (8/50) of patients were PCR- and then turned PCR+ after day 7 of the follow-up. AL remains efficacious for the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in the study area. However, the persistence of PCR-detected residual submicroscopic parasitemia following AL might compromise this treatment and need careful monitoring.