Chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum from East Africa: cultivation and drug sensitivity of the Tanzanian I/CDC strain from an American tourist

Lancet. 1979 Dec 1;2(8153):1151-4. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(79)92383-3.

Abstract

A strain of Plasmodium falciparum, designated Tanzanian I/CDC, from an American tourist returning from Tanzania, was isolated in vitro and in the Aotus monkey. Clinically, the infection showed a late recrudescent pattern of chloroquine resistance. In 2 inoculated Aotus monkeys, the infection recrudesced after a dose of chloroquine (40 mg/kg) curative for sensitive P. falciparum strains in the Aotus monkey. In 4 ,dditional monkeys two primary infections and one of the recrudescent parasitaemias were cured with a 100 mg/kg dose of chloroquine; the second recrudescent parasitaemia was cured with an additional 40 mg/kg dose of chloroquine. The 48 h in-vitro chloroquine-sensitivity test demonstrated that the Tanzanian I/CDC strain had a pattern of chloroquine resistance similar to a reference resistant strain, the Vietnam-Oak Knoll (FVO). These studies reinforce reports which suggest that chloroquine-resistant malaria is being transmitted in East Africa.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Blood / parasitology
  • Chloroquine / pharmacology*
  • Georgia / ethnology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests / methods
  • Middle Aged
  • Plasmodium falciparum / drug effects*
  • Plasmodium falciparum / isolation & purification
  • Tanzania
  • Travel

Substances

  • Chloroquine