Absence of correlation between ex vivo susceptibility to doxycycline and pfteQ-pfmdt gene polymorphism in French Guiana.

Background: In French Guiana, doxycycline is used for both chemoprophylaxis and the treatment of malaria. The presence of isolates with reduced ex vivo susceptibility to doxycycline in French Guiana makes it critical to identify any genetic determinants contributing to the chemosusceptibility level of Plasmodium falciparum to doxycycline, such as pfmdt and pftetQ, which were recently identified as potential molecular markers in African isolates.

Methods: A Bayesian statistical approach was used to define different ex vivo doxycycline phenotypes.