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Influence of consecutive-day blood sampling on polymerase chain reaction-adjusted parasitological cure rates in an antimalarial-drug trial conducted in Tanzania.

Martensson A, Ngasala B, Ursing J, Isabel Veiga M, Wiklund L, Membi C, Montgomery SM, Premji Z, Farnert A, Bjorkman A

Infectious Diseases Unit, Department of Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm 17176, Sweden. andreas.martensson@ki.se

We assessed the influence that consecutive-day blood sampling, compared with single-day blood sampling, had on polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-adjusted parasitological cure after stepwise genotyping of merozoite surface proteins 2 (msp2) and 1 (msp1) in 106 children in Tanzania who had uncomplicated falciparum malaria treated with either sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine or artemether-lumefantrine; 78 of these children developed recurrent parasitemia during the 42-day follow-up period. Initial msp2 genotyping identified 27 and 33 recrudescences by use of single- and consecutive-day sampling, respectively; in subsequent msp1 genotyping, 17 and 21 of these episodes, respectively, were still classified as recrudescences; these results indicate a similar sensitivity of the standard single-day PCR protocol--that is, 82% (27/33) and 81% (17/21), in both genotyping steps. Interpretation of PCR-adjusted results will significantly depend on methodology.

Published 18 January 2007 in J Infect Dis, 195(4): 597-601.
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