IngentaConnect The antischistosomal efficacies of artesunatesulfamethoxypyrazine...

Authors: Adam, I.¹; Elhardello, O.A.²; Elhadi, M.O.³; Abdalla, E.²; Elmardi, K.A.⁴; Jansen, F.H.⁵

Source: Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, Volume 102, Number 1, January 2008 , pp. 39-44(6)

Abstract:

Although artemisinin and its derivatives are widely used for the treatment of malaria, they also have antischistosomal activity. In a small study in eastern Sudan, the effects of the treatment of uncomplicated, Plasmodium falciparum malaria with artesunate-sulfamethoxypyrazine-pyrimethamine (AS-SMP) and artemether-lumefantrine (AT-LU) on co-infections with Schistosoma mansoni were therefore investigated. Faecal samples from 14 of the 306 patients screened on presentation, at the start of a clinical trial of antimalarial treatment, were found to contain Schistosoma mansoni eggs. For the treatment of their malaria, the 14 egg-positive cases, who were aged 6-40 years (mean = 13.7 years), were each subsequently treated with three tablets of a fixed combination of AS-SMP, with a 12-h (six patients) or 24-h interval (five patients) between each tablet, or with six doses of AT-LU given over 3 days. When checked 28 and 29 days after the initiation of treatment, all 14 patients were found stool-negative for schistosome eggs. These results indicate that AS-SMP and AT-LU are currently very effective treatments not only for uncomplicated, P. falciparum malaria but also for S. mansoni infections.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1179/136485908X252214

Affiliations: 1: Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum, P.O. Box 102, Khartoum, Sudan 2: New Halfa Teaching Hospital, P.O. Box 68, New Halfa, Sudan 3: National Center for Research, P.O. Box 2404, Khartoum, Sudan 4: National Malaria Control Programme, Ministry of Health, P.O. Box 1204, Khartoum, Sudan 5: Dafra Pharma NV, Slachthuisstrat 30/7, 2300 Turnhout, Belgium

The antischistosomal efficacies of artesunate-sulfamethoxypyrazine-pyrimethamine and artemether-lumefantrine administered as treatment for uncomplicated, Plasmodium falciparum malaria