Paper
Failure of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in a traveller coming from Ethiopia
Published Nov 3, 2016 · F. Gobbi, D. Buonfrate, M. Menegon
Malaria Journal
20
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0
Influential Citations
Abstract
Artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) is used worldwide as the first-line treatment against uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Despite the success of ACT in reducing the global burden of malaria, the emerging of resistance to artemisinin threatens its use. This report describes the first case of failure of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHA-PPQ) for the treatment of P. falciparum malaria diagnosed in Europe. It occurred in an Italian tourist returned from Ethiopia. She completely recovered after the DHA-PPQ treatment but 32 days after the end of therapy she had a recrudescence. The retrospective analysis indicated a correct DHA-PPQ absorption and genotyping demonstrated that the same P. falciparum strain was responsible for the both episodes. In consideration of the growing number of cases of resistance to ACT, it is important to consider a possible recrudescence, that can manifest also several weeks after treatment.
DHA-PPQ treatment for uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in an Italian tourist from Ethiopia failed due to recrudescence 32 days after therapy, highlighting the need to consider recrudescence even after treatment.
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