Assessment of therapeutic efficacy and safety of artemether-lumefantrine (Coartem®) in the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria patients in Bahir Dar district, Northwest Ethiopia: an observational cohort study

Background: Malaria is a complex disease, which varies in its epidemiology and clinical manifestation. Although artemether-lumefantrine has been used as first-line drug for uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Bahir Dar district since 2004, its efficacy has not yet been assessed. The main objective of this study was to quantify the proportion of patients with uncomplicated falciparum malaria who were prescribed artemether-lumefantrine and who failed treatment after a 28-day follow-up. Methods: The research team attempted to conduct an observational cohort study on the assessment of therapeutic efficacy and safety of artemether-lumefantrine in falciparum malaria patients aged over five years in Bahir Dar district from March to July 2012. Results: Among 130 participants in the study, 60% were males with 1:5 male to female ratio. The mean of asexual parasitaemia load was 8675 parasites/mu L and 96.1 % participants were free from parasitaemia at day 3. At the end of the study, 98.5 % of participants showed adequate clinical and parasitological response of the drug. In the study, only 1.5 % of participants were shown late parasitological failure between seventh and 14th day follow-up and 1.3 % of participants were free from anaemia at the end of follow-up. Conclusion: According to the research findings, artemether-lumefantrine fulfilled the inclusion criteria of WHO as first-line drug and continues to be the drug of choice for the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria. Outputs from this study should be supported through advanced molecular techniques and blood concentration and pharmaco-vigilance of the drug.