Study of chloroquine resistant P.falciparum malaria in Sri Lanka.

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the distribution of chloroquine resistant P. falciparum malaria in Sri Lanka to evaluate a health education intervention to improve revisits of P.falciparum malaria patients, and to evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of combination therapy using artesunate, sulphadoxine pyrimethamine and primaquine in the treatment of P.falciparum malaria infections. The findings of this study have far reaching implications for drug policy in the choice of antimalarials in Sri Lanka. The addition of an antimalarials such as artesunate that is quickly eliminated from the body will help in averting the predicted disaster of sulphadoxine pyrimethamine developing resistance rapidly, should it be used alone as the first line of treatmen