Impact of community-based integrated mass drug administration on schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminth prevalence in Togo.

BACKGROUND: Togo has conducted annual, integrated, community-based mass drug administration (MDA) for soil-transmitted helminths (STH) and schistosomiasis since 2010. Treatment frequency and target populations are determined by disease prevalence, as measured by baseline surveys in 2007 and 2009, and WHO guidelines. Reported programmatic treatment coverage has averaged over 94%. Togo conducted a cross-sectional survey in 2015 to assess the impact of four to five years of MDA on these diseases. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In every sub-district in the country outside the capital, the same schools were visited as at baseline and a sample of fifteen children age 6 to 9 years old was drawn. Each child submitted urine and a stool sample. Urine samples were tested by dipstick for the presence of blood as a proxy measure of Schistosoma haematobium infection. Stool samples were analyzed by the Kato-Katz method for STH and Schistosoma mansoni. At baseline, 17,100 children were enrolled at 1,129 schools in 562 sub-districts; in 2015, 16,890 children were enrolled at the same schools. The overall prevalence of both STH and schistosomiasis declined significantly, from 31.5% to 11.6% for STH and from 23.5% to 5.0% for schistosomiasis (p<0.001 in both instances). Egg counts from both years were available only for hookworm and S. mansoni; intensity of infection decreased significantly for both infections from 2009 to 2015 (p<0.001 for both infections). In areas with high baseline prevalence, rebound of hookworm infection was noted in children who had not received albendazole in the past 6 months. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: After four to five years of MDA in Togo, the prevalence and intensity of STH and schistosomiasis infection were significantly reduced compared to baseline. Data on STH indicate that stopping MDA in areas with high baseline prevalence may result in significant rebound of infection. Togo's findings may help refine treatment recommendations for these diseases.

Therapeutic efficacy trial of artemisinin-based combination therapy for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria and investigation of mutations in k13 propeller domain in Togo, 2012-2013.

BACKGROUND: Since 2005, the Togo National Malaria Control Programme has recommended two different formulations of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT), artesunate-amodiaquine (ASAQ) and artemether-lumefantrine (AL), for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria. Regular efficacy monitoring of these two combinations is conducted every 2 or 3 years. This paper reports the latest efficacy assessment results and the investigation of mutations in the k13 propeller domain. METHODS: The study was conducted in 2012-2013 on three sentinel sites of Togo (Lomé, Sokodé and Niamtougou). Children aged 6-59 months, who were symptomatically infected with Plasmodium falciparum, were treated with either AL (Coartem(®), Novartis Pharma, Switzerland) or ASAQ (Co-Arsucam(®), Sanofi Aventis, France). The WHO standard protocol for anti-malarial treatment evaluation was used. The primary end-point was 28-day adequate clinical and parasitological response (ACPR), corrected to exclude reinfection using polymerase-chain reaction (PCR) genotyping. RESULTS: A total of 523 children were included in the study. PCR-corrected ACPR was 96.3-100 % for ASAQ and 97-100 % for AL across the three study sites. Adverse events were negligible: 0-4.8 % across all sites, for both artemisinin-based combinations. Upon investigation of mutations in the k13 propeller domain, only 9 (1.8 %) mutations were reported, three in each site. All mutant parasites were cleared before day 3. All day 3 positive patients were infected with k13 wild type parasites. CONCLUSIONS: The efficacy of AL and ASAQ remains high in Togo, and both drugs are well tolerated. ASAQ and AL would be recommended for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in Togo.

Surveillance of the efficacy of artemether-lumefantrine and artesunate-amodiaquine for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum among children under five in Togo, 2005-2009.

BACKGROUND: Malaria remains a major public health problem in Togo. The national malaria control programme in Togo changed the anti-malarial treatment policy from monotherapy to artemisinin combination therapy in 2004. This study reports the results of therapeutic efficacy studies conducted on artemether-lumefantrine and artesunate-amodiaquine for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Togo, between 2005 and 2009. METHODS: Children between 6 and 59 months of age, who were symptomatically infected with P. falciparum, were treated with either artemether-lumefantrine or artesunate-amodiaquine. The primary end-point was the 28-day cure rate, PCR-corrected for reinfection and recrudescence. Studies were conducted according to the standardized WHO protocol for the assessment of the efficacy of anti-malarial treatment. Differences between categorical data were compared using the chi-square test or the Fisher's exact test where cell counts were ≤ 5. Differences in continuous data were compared using a t-test. RESULTS: A total of 16 studies were conducted in five sentinel sites, with 459, 505 and 332 children included in 2005, 2007 and 2009, respectively. The PCR-corrected 28-day cure rates using the per-protocol analysis were between 96%-100% for artemether-lumefantrine and 94%-100% for artesunate-amodiaquine. CONCLUSIONS: Both formulations of artemisinin-based combination therapy were effective over time and no severe adverse events related to the treatment were reported during the studies.