Gametocytemia in faiciparum malaria treated with amodiaquine or artesunate

Introduction. Antimalarial treatment effects on Plasmodium falciparum gametocytemia has been the focus of few studies in the Americas. Objective. Relationships are described that occur between falciparum gametocytemia and the treatment with amodiaquine-sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, artesunate-sulfacloxine-pyrimethamine or amodiaquine-artesunate. Materials and methods. The experimental design consisted of a randomized selection of patients not balanced or blinded. A total of 241 patients were evaluated, residents of Turbo, El Bagre and Zaragoza (Antioquia, Colombia). The follow up occurred 21-28 days after antimalarial treatment. The World Health Organization (1998) protocol was used. Results. The therapeutic efficacy of amodiaquine-sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, artesunate-sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine and amodiaquine-artesunate were equal at day 21 of the follow up. Four cases (1.7%) were therapeutic failures. Amodiaquine-sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine was less effective than the artesunate treatments in reducing the gametocyte load. On day 7, none of the three traetments had eliminated completely the gametocytes. Most patients (56.0%) were observed not to have circulating gametocytes pre-treatment and did not develop them later. Conclusion. The three treatment schemes were similar in their therapeutic efficacy and in their incapacity to eliminate gametocytes at day seven.