Assessment of drug resistance to the malaria parasite in residents of Kampala, Uganda

Abstract

Objective: To assess dnig-resistance of the malaria parasite in elite residents of Kampala city, Uganda.
Design: Recruited into the study were patients with complaints of fever, backache and headache or general malaise and body joint pains, could recall their previous treatment for the current complaints and could show laboratory reports indicating presence of malaria parasites. Blood was taken from those patients and examined for malaria parasites.
Setting: Kampala Diagnostic and Imaging Constltants Clinic, Kampala, Uganda from 1994 to 1997.
Results: Out of 268 patients, 27%, 26%, 12%, 11 %, 6%, 6% and 5% strains of malaria parasites were respectively resistant to chloroquine, quinine, metakelfm, fansidar, halfan, artenam and camoquine. Double drug resistance was also observed in the patients who had taken chloroquine and quinine (21 %), chloroquine and fansidar (16%) and quinine and fansidar (10%) out of 86. Some strains exhibited resistance to chloroquine, quinine and fansidar (12.6%) out of 71. R I11 was observed in 17 strains of malaria parasites, eight of them were for chloroquine, four for fansidar and three for quinine. Twenty six patients had frequent recurrence of malaria lasting for over one year.
Conclusion: One third of Plasmodium fakiparum strains by 1997 had acquired resistance to chloroquine and quinine and some were gradually acquiring multi-drug resistance, leading to frequent recurrence of malaria and use of many different types of antimalarials.