Drug Susceptibility of Plasmodium falciparum Collected from Different Areas of Thailand During 2000 – 2001

Abstract

Eighteen isolates of Plasmodium falciparum isolates were collected from (1) Ratchaburi, (2) Tak, (3) Ranong, and (4) Ubon Ratchathani. Only sixteen isolates were successfully adapted to our laboratory environment. All isolates were tested against 5 antimalarial drugs, pyrimethamine, chloroquine, quinine, mefloquine and amodiaquine. The range of MIC against all tested drugs are similar to those reported earlier. However, the falciparum isolates from Ubon Ratchathani tend to be more sensitive than isolates from other provinces. This suggested that the malaria parasites from Thai-Laos border and Thai-Myanmar border may have different genetic background or may be selected with drug pressure at different rates.