Questions over high frequency of mutant PfATP6 haplotypes in traveller isolates

• Published in: Malaria Journal
• Main Authors: Woodrow Charles J, Gardner Kate B, Bustamante Leyla Y
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2012
• Subjects: Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic; Traveller
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-11-186; https://doaj.org/article/e870403b95584a36a121f8ff90546159

Abstract A recent paper in Malaria Journal suggests that a high proportion of Plasmodium falciparum isolates found in travellers returning from a range of African countries carry the PfATP6 A623E S769N haplotype, and that this genotype is associated with artemether resistance. Such a finding would represent a substantial departure from the extensive literature reporting these individual mutations to be very rare, with the double mutation never documented. The number of isolates screened to obtain these double mutants is unstated, but highly relevant, not least because selection of isolates could have introduced significant confounders, such as timing of in vitro testing. An additional concern relates to the location of sequencing primers used to assess these positions. In the absence of clear information on these fundamental questions it would be appropriate to treat the findings with caution.