Efficacy of amodiaquine, sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine and their combination for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in children in Cameroon at the time of policy change to artemisinin-based combination therapy.

Background: The efficacy of amodiaquine (AQ), sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) and the combination of SP+AQ in the treatment of Cameroonian children with clinical malaria was investigated. The prevalence of molecular markers for resistance to these drugs was studied to set the baseline for surveillance of their evolution with time.

Methods: Seven hundred and sixty children aged 6-59 months with uncomplicated falciparum malaria were studied in three ecologically different regions of Cameroon - Mutengene (littoral equatorial forest), Yaoundé (forest-savannah mosaic) and Garoua (guinea-savannah).