IN-VITRO SUSCEPTIBILITY OF PLASMODIUM-FALCIPARUM ISOLATES IN VIETNAM TO ARTEMISININ DERIVATIVES AND OTHER ANTIMALARIALS

We performed in vitro drug susceptibility assays of ten Plasmodium fal ciparum isolates collected from Viet Nam in 1995. All isolates were fo und to be highly sensitive to artesunate, dihydro-artemisinin and arte misinin. They were also sensitive to quinine. All of them were resista nt to chloroquine and mefloquine in vitro. This study provides the bas eline estimates of in vitro susceptibility levels of the Vietnamese is olates to artemisinin and their derivatives because the data were coll ected soon after these drugs were introduced countrywide. It also desc ribes some quantitative profiles of the in vitro response of other sta ndard antimalarial drugs in Viet Nam, which is presently limited. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.