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The UK Health Security Agency has reported a case of Plasmodium falciparum artemisinin drug-resistant malaria in a UK traveller who returned from Uganda in September 2022.
Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) is the recommended choice of treatment in the UK for P. falciparum malaria. Previous cases of artemisinin-resistant P.falciparum (characterised by the pfk13 gene marker) have been reported in South East Asia in 2007, and Africa in 2020, but this is the first case of P.falciparum (carrying the variant pfk13_675V) detected in the UK.
UK malaria reference laboratories are monitoring closely for further evidence of ACT treatment failure and advise any suspected cases of antimalarial treatment failure to be discussed urgently with local infectious disease services.
Drug resistance occurs when an organism which causes a disease or condition develops the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill or inactive them. This is therefore an important reminder on why we need to provide malaria prevention advice, including bite prevention measures for all travellers at potential risk.
Malaria risk for travellers should be checked in the 'malaria prevention' section of all TRAVAX country pages.
All travellers visiting malaria-risk areas should be advised on:
All patients diagnosed with malaria should be managed by or in conjunction with a physician who has experience in managing malaria. The UK malaria treatment guidelines should be followed.
Any suspected cases of antimalarial treatment failure should be discussed urgently with local infectious disease services.
