pfmdr1 amplification associated with clinical resistance to mefloquine in West Africa: implications for efficacy of artemisinin combination therapies

Abstract

We describe here a clinical failure in the treatment with mefloquine of acute falciparum malaria contracted in Africa and associated with in vitro mefloquine resistance and pfmdr1 copy number amplification. This case raises the question of the presence and the evolution of this genotype in Africa, which is also known to alter the susceptibility to artemisinin combination therapy (ACT).