Evoluçäo temporal da resistência in vitro do Plasmodium falciparum às drogas antimaláricas em duas áreas da Amazônia Brasileira com distintas características sócio-econômicas e geográficas / Temporal progression of in vitro Plasmodium falciparum resistance to antimalarial drugs, in two areas of the Brazilian Amazon with distinct socieconomical and geographical characteristics

RESUMO

We evaluated the temporal progression of in vitro P. falciparum resistance to chloroquine, amodiaquine, quinine and mefloquine in two areas with distinct socioeconomical and geographical characteristics Lourenço, in Amapá state and Paragominas, in Pará state. The former region is essentially an ®open® gold mining camp, whereas the latter is one currently undergoing a colonization settlement process, in addition to expanding economical activities which mainly include cattle raising and wood exploitation. Our results show high resistance rates to chloroquine in the two study areas 79.8 per cent and 68.4 per cent in Lourenço and Paragominas, respectively. Variations in the response of P. falciparum to both amodiaquine and quinine were recorded throughout the study period. On the other hand, no mefloquine P. falciparum resistant strains could be identified, despite the tact we had noted a decrease in sensitivity to this antimalarial drug throughout the study period.