Antimalarial Drug Resistance With Assessment of Transmission Blocking Activity

This is a two-arm, open label Treatment Study comparing the efficacy, safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of a three-day course of Dihydroartemisinin-Piperaquine (DP) with or without single-dose primaquine in patients with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria. On the last day of DP therapy, volunteers will be randomized to receive either a single 45 mg dose of primaquine (PQ) or DP treatment only (no primaquine).

Volunteers with uncomplicated malaria in Cambodia will be enrolled to current standard of care therapy with DHA-piperaquine to monitor therapeutic efficacy and measure resistance. The cardiac safety of piperaquine will be monitored with electrocardiograms during the treatment period. Resistance to DP and DP-PQ will be assessed by a combination of clinical, pharmacologic, and parasitologic parameters including genomic signatures of selection during careful weekly follow-up visits for 42 days. Volunteers will be randomized on day 3 to either a single 45mg dose of primaquine or no sexual stage therapy to evaluate effects of primaquine on the sexual stages of malaria (gametocytes) and potential transmissibility of infection to Anopheles mosquitoes as compared to those not treated with primaquine.