Effect of drug pressure on promoting the emergence of antimalarial resistant parasites among pregnant women in Ghana.

Effect of drug pressure on promoting the emergence of antimalarial resistant parasites among pregnant women in Ghana. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2020 Mar 16;: Authors: Tornyigah B, Coppée R, Houze P, Kusi KA, Adu B, Quakyi I, Coleman N, Mama A, Deloron P, Anang AK, Clain J, Tahar R, Ofori MF, Ndam NT Abstract Continuous spread of antimalarial drug resistance is a threat to current chemotherapy efficacy. Therefore, characterizing the genetic diversity of drug resistance markers is needed to follow treatment effectiveness and further update control strategies. Here, we genotyped Plasmodium falciparum resistance gene markers associated with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) and artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) in isolates from pregnant women in Ghana. The prevalence of the septuple IRN I- A/FG K GS/T pfdhfr/pfdhps haplotypes including the pfdhps A581G and A613S/T mutations was high at delivery among post-SP treatment isolates (18.2%) compared to those of first-antenatal care (before initiation of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (IPTp-SP); 6.1%; p = 0.03). Regarding the pfk13 marker gene, two non-synonymous mutations (N458D and A481C) were detected at positions previously related to artemisinin resistance in isolates from Southeast-Asia. These mutations were predicted in silico to alter the stability of the pfk13 propeller-encoding domain. Overall, these findings highlig...
Source: Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Antimicrob Agents Chemother Source Type: research