ABSTRACT
A 28-day in vivo treatment trial to evaluate the efficacy of pyrimethamine/sulfadoxine (Fansidar, PS) was conducted in 21 Lao patients with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Sixteen patients (76%) were completely cured with PS without any reappearance of asexual stage parasitemia during the follow-up examination. On the other hand, 5 patients (24%) failed to respond to this trial medication, resulting in recrudescence of asexual stage P. falciparum malaria. PS resistance resulted in higher prevalence of post-treatment gametocytemia, 25% gametocyte carriers among PS sensitive cases versus 75% of the resistant cases. These findings suggest that although the level of PS resistance is still valid for treatment of malaria in the study area of Lao PDR, post-treatment induction of gametocytemia among resistant cases may result an increase in transmission rate of PS resistant falciparum malaria.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Child , Child, Preschool , Drug Therapy, Combination , Female , Humans , Laos , Malaria, Falciparum/drug therapy , Male , Middle Aged , Pyrimethamine/administration & dosage , Sulfadoxine/administration & dosage , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
An indirect agglutination test using Trypanosoma cruzi antigen-coated gelatin particles was employed to Trypanosomiasis in Paraguay. Results with this test were quite comparable to those obtained with enzyme-linked immusorbent assay (Elisa). Furthermore, nonspecific reaction to the gelatin particles alone was not found in either acute or chronic infection. This method is more convenient than the ELISA, since the antigen-conjugate particles are stable for at least 1 year at 47 ºC and the test itself is short and simple to perform and does not require specialized equipment