Suspicion of failure in the effectiveness of artemisinin-based combination therapies (currently the first-line treatment of malaria, worldwide) is leading to the unofficial use of alternative antimalarials, including chloroquine and sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine, across northern Nigeria. To facilitate evidence-based resistance management, antimalarial resistance mutations were investigated
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Suspicion of failure in the effectiveness of artemisinin-based combination therapies (currently the first-line treatment of malaria, worldwide) is leading to the unofficial use of alternative antimalarials, including chloroquine and sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine, across northern Nigeria. To facilitate evidence-based resistance management, antimalarial resistance mutations were investigated in
Plasmodium falciparum multidrug resistance-1 (
pfmdr1) and
chloroquine resistance transporter (
pfcrt), in isolates from Kano, northwestern Nigeria. Out of the 88 samples genotyped for
pfmdr1 N86Y mutation using PCR/restriction fragment length polymorphism, one sample contained the 86Y mutation (86Y
frequency = 1.14%). The analysis of 610 bp fragments of
pfmdr1 from 16 isolates revealed two polymorphic sites and low haplotype diversity (H
d = 0.492), with only 86 Y mutations in one isolate, and 184 F replacements in five isolates (184F
frequency = 31.25%). The analysis of 267 bp fragments of
pfcrt isolates revealed high polymorphism (H
d = 0.719), with six haplotypes and seven non-synonymous polymorphic sites. Eleven isolates (61.11%) were chloroquine-resistant, CQR (C
72V
73I
74E
75T
76 haplotype), two of which had an additional mutation, D
57E. An additional sequence was CQR, but of the C
72V
73M
74E
75T
76 haplotype, while the rest of the sequences (33.33%) were chloroquine susceptible (C
72V
73M
74N
75K
76 haplotype). The findings of these well characterized resistance markers should be considered when designing resistance management strategies in the northwestern Nigeria.
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