INVIVO SULFADOXINE-PYRIMETHAMINE SENSITIVITY OF PLASMODIUM-FALCIPARUM IN BRAZZAVILLE (CONGO)

This study was conducted in Brazzaville, the capital and main city of the Congo, between November 1988 and February 1989. A simplified in vivo test was carried out on children presenting with malaria attack (temperature over 38-degrees-C, Plasmodium falciparum parasitaemia over 10,000/mu-l, no signs indicative of other disease). Children who had taken curative doses of antimalarials were excluded from the survey. The sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine combination was given by intramuscular injection of Fansidar(R) at a dosage of 20 mg/kg of sulfadoxine and 1 mg/kg of pyrimethamine. The drug was well-tolerated. Among 29 interpretable cases no clinical failures were observed, and only one case still presented with very low asexual parasitaemia on day 7. This drug is considered as the best alternative treatment of uncomplicated malaria in the Congo where resistance to amino-4-quinoleines is frequent.