Plasmodium falciparum Founder Populations in Western Cambodia Have Reduced Artemisinin SensitivityIn Vitro
Amaratunga C., Witkowski B., Dek D., Try V., Khim N., Miotto O., Ménard D., Fairhurst RM.
<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title><jats:p>Reduced<jats:named-content xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" content-type="genus-species" xlink:type="simple">Plasmodium falciparum</jats:named-content>sensitivity to short-course artemisinin (ART) monotherapy manifests as a long parasite clearance half-life. We recently defined three parasite founder populations with long half-lives in Pursat, western Cambodia, where reduced ART sensitivity is prevalent. Using the ring-stage survival assay, we show that these founder populations have reduced ART sensitivity<jats:italic>in vitro</jats:italic>at the early ring stage of parasite development and that a genetically admixed population contains subsets of parasites with normal or reduced ART sensitivity.</jats:p>