Safety and efficacy of malaria vaccine candidate R21/Matrix-M in African children: a multicentre, double-blind, randomised, phase 3 trial.

Background: Recently, we found that a new malaria vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, had over 75% efficacy against clinical malaria with seasonal administration in a phase 2b trial in Burkina Faso. Here, we report on safety and efficacy of the vaccine in a phase 3 trial enrolling over 4800 children across four countries followed for up to 18 months at seasonal sites and 12 months at standard sites.

Methods: We did a double-blind, randomised, phase 3 trial of the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine across five sites in four African countries with differing malaria transmission intensities and seasonality.

Delivery of seasonal malaria chemoprevention with enhanced infection prevention and control measures during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Chad: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) is a WHO-recommended intervention for children aged 3-59 months living in areas of high malaria transmission to provide protection against malaria during the rainy season. Operational guidelines were developed, based on WHO guidance, to support countries to mitigate the risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission within communities and among community distributors when delivering SMC.

Methods: A cross-sectional study to determine adherence to infection prevention and control (IPC) measures during two distribution cycles of SMC in Nigeria, Chad and Burkina Faso.

Effect of seasonal malaria chemoprevention plus azithromycin on Plasmodium falciparum transmission: gametocyte infectivity and mosquito fitness.

Background: Seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) consists of administration of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) + amodiaquine (AQ) at monthly intervals to children during the malaria transmission period. Whether the addition of azithromycin (AZ) to SMC could potentiate the benefit of the intervention was tested through a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. The effect of SMC and the addition of AZ, on malaria transmission and on the life history traits of Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes have been investigated.

Nutritional status in young children prior to the malaria transmission season in Burkina Faso and Mali, and its impact on the incidence of clinical malaria.

Background: Malaria and malnutrition remain major problems in Sahel countries, especially in young children. The direct effect of malnutrition on malaria remains poorly understood, and may have important implications for malaria control. In this study, nutritional status and the association between malnutrition and subsequent incidence of symptomatic malaria were examined in children in Burkina Faso and Mali who received either azithromycin or placebo, alongside seasonal malaria chemoprevention.

Hepatic safety of repeated treatment with pyronaridine-artesunate versus artemether-lumefantrine in patients with uncomplicated malaria: a secondary analysis of the WANECAM 1 data from Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.

Background: The use of pyronaridine-artesunate (PA) has been associated with scarce transaminitis in patients. This analysis aimed to evaluate the hepatic safety profile of repeated treatment with PA versus artemether-lumefantrine (AL) in patients with consecutive uncomplicated malaria episodes in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.

Methods: This study analysed data from a clinical trial conducted from 2012 to 2015, in which participants with uncomplicated malaria were assigned to either PA or AL arms and followed up to 42 days.

Efficacy of artemether-lumefantrine and artesunate-amodiaquine as first line therapy of uncomplicated malaria in Burkina Faso, 11 years after policy change.

Introduction: Artemether-lumefantrine (AL) and artesunate-amodiaquine (ASAQ) are the first line therapy of uncomplicated malaria in Burkina Faso. We assessed the treatment efficacy, tolerability of these drugs 11 years following its adoption as first line treatment.

Methods: In this opened randomized controlled trial carried out in 2016, participants with age over 6 months who consented to participate were randomly assigned treatment with artemether-lumefantrine or artesunate-amodiaquine and followed up for 28 days.

Serotype Profile of Nasopharyngeal Isolates of Obtained from Children in Burkina Faso before and after Mass Administration of Azithromycin.

Mass drug administration (MDA) with azithromycin (AZ) has been used successfully to control trachoma. However, several studies have shown that MDA with AZ has led to the emergence of resistance to AZ in The emergence of resistance to AZ has also been observed when this antibiotic was combined with the antimalarials used for seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC). The development of antibiotic resistance, including resistance to AZ, is sometimes associated with the emergence of a bacterial clone that belongs to a specific serotype.

Effect of adding azithromycin to the antimalarials used for seasonal malaria chemoprevention on the nutritional status of African children.

Objectives: Mass administration of azithromycin has reduced mortality in children in sub-Saharan Africa but its mode of action is not well characterised. A recent trial found that azithromycin given alongside seasonal malaria chemoprevention was not associated with a reduction in mortality or hospital admissions in young children. We investigated the effect of azithromycin on the nutritional status of children enrolled in this study.

Optimal dosing of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine for seasonal malaria chemoprevention in young children.

Young children are the population most severely affected by Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) with amodiaquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine provides substantial benefit to this vulnerable population, but resistance to the drugs will develop. Here, we evaluate the use of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine as an alternative regimen in 179 children (aged 2.

Polymorphisms in K13, pfcrt, pfmdr1, pfdhfr, and pfdhps in parasites isolated from symptomatic malaria patients in Burkina Faso.

Background: The emergence of resistance to artemisinin derivatives in western Cambodia is threatening to revert the recent advances made toward global malaria control and elimination. Known resistance-mediating polymorphisms in the K13, pfcrt, pfmdr1, pfdhfr, and pfdhps genes are of greatest importance for monitoring the spread of antimalarial drug resistance.

Methods: Samples for the present study were collected from 244 patients with uncomplicated malaria in health centers of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.

HRP2 and pLDH-Based Rapid Diagnostic Tests, Expert Microscopy, and PCR for Detection of Malaria Infection during Pregnancy and at Delivery in Areas of Varied Transmission: A Prospective Cohort Study in Burkina Faso and Uganda.

Background: Intermittent screening and treatment (IST) of malaria during pregnancy has been proposed as an alternative to intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp), where IPTp is failing due to drug resistance. However, the antenatal parasitaemias are frequently very low, and the most appropriate screening test for IST has not been defined.

Methodology/principal Findings: We conducted a multi-center prospective study of 990 HIV-uninfected women attending ANC in two different malaria transmission settings at Tororo District Hospital, eastern Uganda and Colsama Health Center in western Burkina Faso.

Randomized Noninferiority Trial of Dihydroartemisinin-Piperaquine Compared with Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine plus Amodiaquine for Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention in Burkina Faso.

The WHO recommends that children living in areas of highly seasonal malaria transmission in the Sahel subregion should receive seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine plus amodiaquine (SPAQ). We evaluated the use of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHAPQ) as an alternative drug that could be used if SPAQ starts to lose efficacy. A total of 1,499 children 3 to 59 months old were randomized to receive SMC with SPAQ or DHAPQ over 3 months.

Selection of drug resistance-mediating Plasmodium falciparum genetic polymorphisms by seasonal malaria chemoprevention in Burkina Faso.

Seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC), with regular use of amodiaquine plus sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (AQ/SP) during the transmission season, is now a standard malaria control measure in the Sahel subregion of Africa. Another strategy under study is SMC with dihydroartemisinin plus piperaquine (DP). Plasmodium falciparum single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in P.