The effect of mass administration of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine combined with artesunate on malaria incidence: a double-blind, community-randomized, placebo-controlled trial in The Gambia.

A double-blind, community-randomized, placebo-controlled trial was conducted in a rural area of The Gambia between June and December 1999 to test whether a reduction in the infectious reservoir can reduce malaria transmission. Overall 14,017 (85%) individuals living in the study area were treated with either placebo or sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) combined with a single dose of artesunate (AS). Following the mass drug administration (MDA) 1375 children aged 6 months to 10 years were kept under surveillance for clinical malaria in 18 villages throughout the 1999 malaria transmission season.

Treatment uptake by individuals infected with Plasmodium falciparum in rural Gambia, West Africa.

Objective: To find out what proportion of Plasmodium falciparum infections are treated in rural Gambia.

Methods: Subjects from four villages in the Gambia were followed over nine months through visits to village health workers. Monthly cross-sectional malaria surveys measured the prevalence of P.