Scientific publications
Marcel N. Moyeh
Other affiliations: University of Buea
M.S. Evehe
Innocent Mbulli Ali
Other affiliations: Université de Dschang
Akindeh M. Nji
Barbara Atogho‐Tiedeu
Valentine Ndikum
Wilfred Fon Mbacham* (Corresponding author)
Dieudonné Lemuh Njimoh
Dominique N. Nkafu
Malaria Research and Treatment
Background . As a result of the spread of parasites resistant to antimalarial drugs, Malaria treatment guidelines in Cameroon evolved from nonartemisinin monotherapy to artemisinin-based combination therapy. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of these therapy changes on the prevalence of molecular markers of resistance from 2003 to 2013 in Mutengene, Cameroon. Methodology . Dry blood samples (collected in 2003–2005 and 2009–2013) were used for parasite DNA extraction. Drug resistance genes were amplified by PCR and hybridized with oligonucleotide probes or subjected to restriction digestion. The prevalence of individual marker polymorphisms and haplotypes was compared in these two study periods using the Chi square test. Results . Alleles conferring resistance to 4-aminoquinolines in the Pfcrt 76T and Pfmdr1 86Y, 184F, and 1246Y genotypes showed a significant reduction of 97.0% to 66.9%, 83.6% to 45.2%, 97.3% to 56.0%, and 3.1% to 0.0%, respectively (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1"><mml:mi>P</mml:mi><mml:mo><</mml:mo><mml:mn fontstyle="italic">0.05</mml:mn></mml:math>). No difference was observed in SNPs associated with antifolate drugs resistance 51I, 59R, 108N, or 540E (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2"><mml:mi>P</mml:mi><mml:mo>></mml:mo><mml:mn fontstyle="italic">0.05</mml:mn></mml:math>). Haplotype analysis in the Pfmdr1 gene showed a reduction in the YFD from 75.90% to 42.2%, <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M3"><mml:mi>P</mml:mi><mml:mo><</mml:mo><mml:mn fontstyle="italic">0.0001</mml:mn></mml:math>, and an increase in the NYD (2.9% to 30.1%; <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M4"><mml:mi>P</mml:mi><mml:mo><</mml:mo><mml:mn fontstyle="italic">0.0001</mml:mn></mml:math>). Conclusions . The results indicated a gradual return of the 4-aminoquinoline sensitive genotype while the antifolate resistant genotypes increased to saturation.
