A PILOT FIELD TRIAL OF AN IN VITRO DRUG SUSCEPTIBILITY TEST USING THE ANAEROPACK MALARIA CULTURE SYSTEM ON THE THAI-MYANMAR BORDER

ABSTRACT

The AnaeroPack<SUP>®</SUP> malaria culture system with a portable thermostat incubator was evaluated in a field laboratory on the Thai-Myanmar border conducting <I>in vitro</I> drug susceptibility tests on blood samples from 5 Karen children infected with <I>P. falciparum</I>. Only one isolate was susceptible to chloroquine; the others were highly resistant. The IC<SUB>50</SUB> value of an isolate was only resistant to mefloquine, whereas the values of the 3 patients who presumably showed recrudescence were slightly elevated in the susceptible ranges. These results suggested that chloroquine should no longer be used for <I>P. falciparum</I> malaria in this geographic area, and that mefloquine should be carefully monitored for its <I>in vivo</I> effectiveness. In this study, the AnaeroPack<SUP>®</SUP> malaria culture system with portable thermostatic incubator is a powerful and useful mobile tool, which aids in providing detailed evidence-based distribution data concerning of drug resistant malaria in the field.