Plasmodium malaria resistant to chloroquine in a Zambian living in Zambia.

Abstract

Recently, chloroquine resistant Plasmodium falciparum has been acquired in east Africa by white visitors.' 2 We have carried out more than 25 successful in vitro macrotests, 15 in vitro microtests using capillary blood specimens, and 130 in vivo tests on the susceptibility of Pfalciparum in Zambia to chloroquine and to the new antimalarial drug mefloquine.3-5 In the in vivo tests the patients were observed in an environment free of mosquitoes for 28-63 days after they developed malaria. Our results showed that P falciparum in Zambia is generally sensitive to standard doses of chloroquine or mefloquine. Here, however, we report perhaps the first proved case of chloroquine resistant Pfalciparum in an African living in Africa.