Efficacy of artemether-lumefantrine for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Northeast Ethiopia

Background: The impact of resistance to antimalarials is insidious and unless efficacy studies are conducted, resistance may go unrecognized. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of artemether/lumefantrine, for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum infections in Kemisie Health Center, Northeast Ethiopia.Methods: Artemether/lumefantrine efficacy study was conducted in Kemisie Health Center, Northeast Ethiopia from September, 2012 to May, 2013. The study participants were febrile people above the age of 6 months with confirmed uncomplicated P. falciparum infection. Patients were treated with artemether/lumefantrine. Clinical and parasitological parameters were monitored over a 28 days follow-up period to evaluate drug efficacy. The Kaplan–Meier method was used for statistical analysis of data on drug efficacy.Results: Among the 66 enrolled participants 72.7% were 15 and above years of age while 15.3% were less than 5 years old. Of these study participants, 53% were male. There was 89.4% fever clearance and 84.8% parasite clearance on day 1, whereas, there was 100% fever clearance and 96.8% parasite clearance on day 3 from the 62 participants who carried on the study. Among 66 participants who had started 28 days of follow-up one patient had an early parasitological failure (parasitemia on day 3) and another patient had a late parasitological failure (parasitemia on day 21).Conclusions: In general, this study discovered good clinical and parasitological response of P. falciparum to artemether/lumefantrine. Further polymeric chain reaction and plasma drug concentration based effectiveness study of artemether/lumefantrine should be conducted throughout the country.