New strategies and tools for Plasmodium falciparum case management and surveillance in the era of imminent resistance to artemisinin-based combination therapy in Tanzania

Sammanfattning: Artemether-lumefantrine has been an efficacious first line treatment for uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Tanzania since its introduction in 2006. Interest has developed in understanding the observation of high residual PCR determined positivity rates on day 3 after supervised artemether-lumefantrine treatment in the magnitude of almost 30% in previous assessments from 2015 in Bagamoyo district, Tanzania. Deep sequencing has recently been used to study these Bagamoyo parasites with delayed clearance, and the clearance times by PCR of some P. falciparum sub-populations were similar to artemisinin resistant parasites in Myanmar as assessed by microscopy, albeit lacking the described mutations in the Kelch13 propeller gene associated with artemisinin resistance. Moreover, molecular epidemiological studies from Bagamoyo, have shown temporal selection of lumefantrine associated genetic tolerance/resistance markers (pfmdr1 - N86, 184F, D1246 and pfcrt - K76) in the parasite population following wide scale use of artemether-lumefantrine but without signs of compromised treatment efficacy. On the other hand, traditional epidemiological studies have reported that imported malaria cases in Zanzibar from Tanzania mainland contribute to regressing the malaria elimination efforts in this pre-elimination part of the country.This PhD project explored efficacy and safety of extending the artemether-lumefantrine regimen from standard 3 days to 6 days and adding single low dose primaquine (0.25mg/kg) as a new strategy that can be used in order to protect the therapeutic lifespan of artemether-lumefantrine. Also, whole-genome sequencing was used to study genomic epidemiology of P. falciparum population between Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar.The results revealed that extended artemether-lumefantrine treatment did not have superior efficacy in the current context of artemether-lumefantrine sensitive P. falciparum parasites. However, the safety profile was excellent and similar to standard 3 days treatment. Parasite detection by molecular methods was 84% on day 3 after artemether-lumefantrine treatment. Meanwhile, significant decreases in the effective population sizes were inferred in both Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar parasite populations, that coincide with a period of decreasing malaria transmission in Tanzania. The parasite population from Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar were found to be connected, implying importation of cases from high transmission mainland to pre elimination regions of Zanzibar.Utility of these results is during exploring options of alternative artemisinin-based combination therapy regimens to protect their therapeutic efficacy in an era of imminent artemisinin resistance in sub Saharan Africa. Moreover, the genomic epidemiological findings in this project may be of interest for malaria elimination programs, in the incorporation of molecular tools in future malaria elimination strategies and resistance surveillance, in the context of understanding importation of malaria from high to low transmission regions.