Effects of artesunate treatment on Plasmodium gallinaceum transmission in the vectors Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus

- We examined 5 and 7-dose treatments of 10 mg/kg artesunate (ATN) on P. gallinaceum.
- 7-Dose, not 5-dose, treatments of 10 mg/kg ATN cleared P. gallinaceum blood stages.
- 7-Dose, not 5-dose, treatment of 10 mg/kg ATN also blocked transmission to vectors.

In the absence of vaccines, chemotherapy is an effective and economical way for controlling malaria. Development of anti-malarial drugs that target pathogenic blood stage parasites and gametocytes is preferable for the treatment as it can alleviate the host's morbidity and mortality and block transmission of the Plasmodium parasite. Recently, our laboratory has developed an in vivo transmission blocking assay that involves administration of 7 consecutive daily doses of a test compound into domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) infected with the avian malaria parasite Plasmodium gallinaceum with 10% parasitaemia and 1% gametocytaemia. To compromise the cost and time for artesunate (ATN) treatment, this study aimed to investigate effects of a 5-day consecutive administration of 10 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) ATN on P. gallinaceum infection in chickens and transmission to two natural vectors, Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus. Our study showed that the treatment with 10 mg/kg ATN for 7 days, but not 5 days, completely eliminated blood stage infections, prevented recrudescence and blocked gametocyte production and transmission of P. gallinaceum to its vectors, thereby confirming the potent schizontocidal and gametocytocidal activities of ATN. This regimen should be further evaluated in field trials.