Treatment failure of falciparum malaria with Fansidar in Tawau Sabah. January-June, 1982

One hundred and ten consecutive patients with falciparum malaria were treated with Fansidar and primaquine. Of the 61 patients who were followed up at one week, 4 (6.5%) failed to clear their parasitemia (1 R III and 3 R Il treatment failures). Of the subsequent 40 patients who were seen again at one month, another 3 (7.5%) had recrudesced (R 1 treatment failure). A total of 7 patients thus experienced some form of treatment failure in the cohort of 40 who completed the one month follow up. Only 1 of these 7patients (with R III treatment) failure) failed to respond to repeat Fansidar treatment, and may be the only one with true Fansidar resistance. The overall treatment failure rate of 17.5% (95% confidence interval: 6-29%) in the cohort who completed the study is consistent with the known clinical efficacy of Fansidar. These results suggest no significant Fansidar resistance in falciparum malaria found in Sabah.