Trends in chloroquine resistance marker, Pfcrt-K76T mutation ten years after chloroquine withdrawal in Tanzania.

Background: Plasmodium falciparum resistance to anti-malarial drugs remains a major obstacle to the control of malaria. In 2001 Tanzania replaced chloroquine (CQ) with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) as first-line drug, which in turn was replaced by artemisinin combination therapy in 2006. SP has however, continued to be used in intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy (IPTp) despite reports of high levels of resistance to SP due to the lack of alternatives to SP for IPTp.

Over-diagnosis of malaria is not a lost cause.

Background: Recent studies have highlighted the over-diagnosis of malaria in clinical settings in Africa. This study assessed the impact of a training programme implemented as part of an intervention trial on diagnostic behaviour of clinicians in a rural district hospital in a low-moderate malaria transmission setting.

Methods: From the beginning of 2005, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of intermittent preventive treatment for malaria in infants (IPTi) has been conducted at the study hospital.