ABSTRACT
In most African countries ; sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine ( Sp) had been the second-line drug to treat chloraquine in resistant Plasmodium falciparum infections in the 1990s and early 2000s . Although its use a monotherapy has been restricted in recent years ; SP has become important for intermittent preventive treatement (IPT) in pregnant women in Africa ; and some countries have been resorting to the combination artesunate -SP for the treatement of uncomplicated malaria .Therefore ; the evaluation of its efficacy remains relevant.In this study ; 58 symptomatic children were treated with SP according to the standard World Health Organization protocol and followed for 14 days .The sequences of P.Falciparum dihydrofolate reductase (dhfr)and dihydropteroate synthase (dhps) genes were determined to correlate these genetic markers and clinical outcome .In addition; blood samples form patients who did not satisfy the inclusion criteria were analysed for the presence of the key dhfr mutation .Results do not suggest any correlation between the observed mutations and SP treatement failure but show a high prevalence of mutations associated with resistance to antifolate drugs and sulfa drugs .However ; it will be important to pursue clinical studie on SP efficacy and epidemiological surveys using these molecular markers ; in particular because in Cameroon the major markers proposed to be highly associated with SP failure elsewhere in the world ; i.e.dhfr mutant codon Glu-540; have not yet been repoted