High prevalence of Pfcrt 76T and Pfmdr1 N86 genotypes in malaria infected patients attending health facilities in East Shewa zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

• Published in: Malaria Journal
• Main Authors: Jifar Hassen, Gezahegn Solomon Alemayehu, Hunduma Dinka, Lemu Golassa
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2022
• Subjects: Plasmodium falciparum; Anti-malarial drug resistance; Pfcrt; Pfmdr1; Ethiopia; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-022-04304-5; https://doaj.org/article/0b319db9ffd7476fa485bc6114a3efbb

Abstract Background Plasmodium falciparum resistance to series of anti-malarial drugs is a major challenge in efforts to control and/or eliminate malaria globally. In 1998, following the widespread of chloroquine (CQ) resistant P. falciparum, Ethiopia switched from CQ to sulfadoxine–pyrimethamine (SP) and subsequently in 2004 from SP to artemether–lumefantrine (AL) for the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria. Data on the prevalence of CQ resistance markers after more than two decades of its removal is important to map the selection pressure behind the targets codons of interest. The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of mutations in Pfcrt K76T and Pfmdr1 N86Y codons among malaria-infected patients from Adama, Olenchiti and Metehara sites of East Shewa zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. Methods Finger-prick whole blood samples were collected on 3MM Whatman ® filter papers from a total of 121 microscopically confirmed P. falciparum infected patients. Extraction of parasite DNA was done by Chelex-100 method from dried blood spot (DBS). Genomic DNA template was used to amplify Pfcrt K76T and Pfmdr1 N86Y codons by nested PCR. Nested PCR products were subjected to Artherobacter protophormiae-I (APoI) restriction enzyme digestion to determine mutations at codons 76 and 86 of Pfcrt and Pfmdr1 genes, respectively. Results Of 83 P. falciparum isolates successfully genotyped for Pfcrt K76T, 91.6% carried the mutant genotypes (76T). The prevalence of Pfcrt 76T was 95.7%, 92.5% and 84.5% in Adama, Metehara and Olenchiti, respectively. The prevalence of Pfcrt 76T mutations in three of the study sites showed no statistical significance difference (χ2 = 1.895; P = 0.388). On the other hand, of the 80 P. falciparum samples successfully amplified for Pfmdr1, all carried the wild-type genotypes (Pfmdr1 N86). Conclusion Although CQ officially has been ceased for the treatment of falciparum malaria for more than two decades in Ethiopia, greater proportions of P. falciparum clinical isolates ...