Two decades of molecular surveillance in Senegal reveal changes in known drug resistance mutations associated with historical drug use and seasonal malaria chemoprevention.

medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences
Authors
Abstract

Drug resistance in is a major threat to malaria control efforts. We analyzed data from two decades (2000-2020) of continuous molecular surveillance of parasite strains in Senegal to determine how historical changes in drug administration policy may have affected parasite evolution. We profiled several known drug resistance markers and their surrounding haplotypes using a combination of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) molecular surveillance and whole-genome sequence (WGS) based population genomics. We observed rapid changes in drug resistance markers associated with the withdrawal of chloroquine and introduction of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine in 2003. We also observed a rapid increase in K76T and decline in A437G starting in 2014, which we hypothesize may reflect changes in resistance or fitness caused by seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC). Parasite populations evolve rapidly in response to drug use, and SMC preventive efficacy should be closely monitored.

Year of Publication
2023
Journal
medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences
Date Published
04/2023
DOI
10.1101/2023.04.24.23288820
PubMed ID
37163114
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