Characterising co-infections with Plasmodium spp., Mansonella perstans or Loa loa in asymptomatic children, adults and elderly people living on Bioko Island using nucleic acids extracted from malaria rapid diagnostic tests.

Background: Regular and comprehensive epidemiological surveys of the filarial nematodes Mansonella perstans and Loa loa in children, adolescents and adults living across Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea are lacking. We aimed to demonstrate that blood retained on malaria rapid diagnostic tests, commonly deployed for malaria surveys, could be used as a source of nucleic acids for molecular based detection of M. perstans and L.

Analysis of nucleic acids extracted from rapid diagnostic tests reveals a significant proportion of false positive test results associated with recent malaria treatment.

Background: Surveillance programmes often use malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) to determine the proportion of the population carrying parasites in their peripheral blood to assess the malaria transmission intensity. Despite an increasing number of reports on false-negative and false-positive RDT results, there is a lack of systematic quality control activities for RDTs deployed in malaria surveillance programmes.

Methods: The diagnostic performance of field-deployed RDTs used for malaria surveys was assessed by retrospective molecular analysis of the blood retained on the tests.

Molecular malaria surveillance using a novel protocol for extraction and analysis of nucleic acids retained on used rapid diagnostic tests.

The use of malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) as a source for nucleic acids that can be analyzed via nucleic acid amplification techniques has several advantages, including minimal amounts of blood, sample collection, simplified storage and shipping conditions at room temperature. We have systematically developed and extensively evaluated a procedure to extract total nucleic acids from used malaria RDTs. The co-extraction of DNA and RNA molecules from small volumes of dried blood retained on the RDTs allows detection and quantification of P.

Parasite clearance following treatment with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine for intermittent preventive treatment in Burkina-Faso and Mali: 42-day in vivo follow-up study.

Background: Intermittent Preventive Treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) is widely used for the control of malaria in pregnancy in Africa. The emergence of resistance to SP is a concern requiring monitoring the effectiveness of SP for IPTp.

Methods: This was an in-vivo efficacy study to determine the parasitological treatment response and the duration of post-treatment prophylaxis among asymptomatic pregnant women receiving SP as part of IPTp in Mali and Burkina-Faso.

Preliminary study of quinine pharmacokinetics in pregnant women with malaria-HIV co-infection.

Pregnant women bear the greatest burden of malaria-human immunodeficiency virus co-infection. Previous studies suggest that interaction with antiretroviral drugs may compromise antimalarial pharmacokinetics and treatment outcomes. We conducted a preliminary clinical study to assess quinine pharmacokinetics in Malian pregnant women with acute malaria who reported taking nevirapine-based antiretroviral therapy.

Artemisinin-based combinations versus amodiaquine plus sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in Faladje, Mali.

Background: Because of the emergence of chloroquine resistance in Mali, artemether-lumefantrine (AL) or artesunate-amodiaquine (AS+AQ) are recommended as first-line therapy for uncomplicated malaria, but have not been available in Mali until recently because of high costs.

Methods: From July 2005 to January 2006, a randomized open-label trial of three oral antimalarial combinations, namely AS+AQ, artesunate plus sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (AS+SP), and amodiaquine plus sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (AQ+SP), was conducted in Faladje, Mali. Parasite genotyping by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to distinguish new from recrudescent Plasmodium falciparum infections.