Article

The promise and potential challenges of intermittent preventive treatment for malaria in infants (IPTi)

Malaria Journal 01/2005;
Source: DOAJ

ABSTRACT Abstract

Intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) administers a full therapeutic course of an anti-malarial drug at predetermined intervals, regardless of infection or disease status. It is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for protecting pregnant women from the adverse effects of malaria (IPTp) and shows great potential as a strategy for reducing illness from malaria during infancy (IPTi). Administered concurrently with standard immunizations, IPTi is expected to reduce the frequency of clinical disease, but to allow blood-stage infections to occur between treatments, thus allowing parasite-specific immunity to develop. While wide deployment of IPTi is being considered, it is important to assess other potential effects. Transmission conditions, drug choice and administration schedule will likely affect the possibility of post-treatment rebound in child morbidity and mortality and the increased spread of parasite drug resistance and should be considered when implementing IPTi.

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    Article: Therapeutic and prophylactic effect of intermittent preventive anti-malarial treatment in infants (IPTi) from Ghana and Gabon.
    Jürgen May, Samuel Adjei, Wibke Busch, Julian J Gabor, Saadou Issifou, Robin Kobbe, Benno Kreuels, Bertrand Lell, Norbert G Schwarz, Ohene Adjei, Peter G Kremsner, Martin P Grobusch
    [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: Intermittent preventive treatment in infants (IPTi) with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) reduces the incidence of malaria episodes in young children. The exact mechanism by which the protective effect is mediated needs to be defined. This study aimed to investigate therapeutic, prophylactic, and possible exceeding effects of SP-based IPTi in two clinical trials. Protective efficacies from two IPTi trials performed in Kumasi, Ghana, and Lambaréné, Gabon, were assessed for overlapping time series of 61 days. For six-months periods after each of three IPTi doses a multivariate Poisson regression model with the respective cohort as co-variate was generated and effect modification of protective efficacy with time strata was evaluated by log-likelihood tests. Protective efficacies were not significantly different between the two study cohorts. Study-cohort corrected protective efficacy was highest for the first 61 days after each IPTi application and decreased continuously. For the first 61 days after IPTi-1, IPTi-2, and IPTi-3 the protective efficacy was 71%, 44%, and 43%, respectively. A reduction of the malaria incidence rate was detectable for the first 60, 30 and 40 days after IPTi-1, IPTi-2 and IPTi-3 drug application, respectively. After IPTi-3 a higher risk for malaria could be seen after day 60. This effect was mainly based on the overwhelming influence of the Kumasi cohort. The results suggest that SP-based IPTi mainly works through a therapeutic and prophylactic effect over 30 to 60 days after drug application and that a sustained effect beyond post-treatment prophylaxis might be very low. Data analysis from clinical trials NCT ID # 00206739 (Kumasi Trial) and NCT ID # 00167843 (Lambaréné Trial), http://www.clinicaltrials.gov.
    Malaria Journal 11/2008; 7:198. · 3.19 Impact Factor
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    Article: Determinants of the cost-effectiveness of intermittent preventive treatment for malaria in infants and children.
    Amanda Ross, Nicolas Maire, Elisa Sicuri, Thomas Smith, Lesong Conteh
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    ABSTRACT: Trials of intermittent preventive treatment in infants (IPTi) and children (IPTc) have shown promising results in reducing malaria episodes but with varying efficacy and cost-effectiveness. The effects of different intervention and setting characteristics are not well known. We simulate the effects of the different target age groups and delivery channels, seasonal or year-round delivery, transmission intensity, seasonality, proportions of malaria fevers treated and drug characteristics. We use a dynamic, individual-based simulation model of Plasmodium falciparum malaria epidemiology, antimalarial drug action and case management to simulate DALYs averted and the cost per DALY averted by IPTi and IPTc. IPT cost components were estimated from economic studies alongside trials. IPTi and IPTc were predicted to be cost-effective in most of the scenarios modelled. The cost-effectiveness is driven by the impact on DALYs, particularly for IPTc, and the low costs, particularly for IPTi which uses the existing delivery strategy, EPI. Cost-effectiveness was predicted to decrease with low transmission, badly timed seasonal delivery in a seasonal setting, short-acting and more expensive drugs, high frequencies of drug resistance and high levels of treatment of malaria fevers. Seasonal delivery was more cost-effective in seasonal settings, and year-round in constant transmission settings. The difference was more pronounced for IPTc than IPTi due to the different proportions of fixed costs and also different assumed drug spacing during the transmission season. The number of DALYs averted was predicted to decrease as a target five-year age-band for IPTc was shifted from children under 5 years into older ages, except at low transmission intensities. Modelling can extend the information available by predicting impact and cost-effectiveness for scenarios, for outcomes and for multiple strategies where, for practical reasons, trials cannot be carried out. Both IPTi and IPTc are generally cost-effective but could be rendered cost-ineffective by characteristics of the setting, drug or implementation.
    PLoS ONE 01/2011; 6(4):e18391. · 4.09 Impact Factor
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    Article: The impact of IPTi and IPTc interventions on malaria clinical burden - in silico perspectives.
    Ricardo Aguas, José M L Lourenço, M Gabriela M Gomes, Lisa J White
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    ABSTRACT: Clinical management of malaria is a major health issue in sub-Saharan Africa. New strategies based on intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) can tackle disease burden by simultaneously reducing frequency of infections and life-threatening illness in infants (IPTi) and children (IPTc), while allowing for immunity to build up. However, concerns as to whether immunity develops efficiently in treated individuals, and whether there is a rebound effect after treatment is halted, have made it imperative to define the effects that IPTi and IPTc exert on the clinical malaria scenario. Here, we simulate several schemes of intervention under different transmission settings, while varying immunity build up assumptions. Our model predicts that infection risk and effectiveness of acquisition of clinical immunity under prophylactic effect are associated to intervention impact during treatment and follow-up periods. These effects vary across regions of different endemicity and are highly correlated with the interplay between the timing of interventions in age and the age dependent risk of acquiring an infection. However, even when significant rebound effects are predicted to occur, the overall intervention impact is positive. IPTi is predicted to have minimal impact on the acquisition of clinical immunity, since it does not interfere with the occurrence of mild infections, thus failing to reduce the underlying force of infection. On the contrary, IPTc has a significant potential to reduce transmission, specifically in areas where it is already low to moderate.
    PLoS ONE 02/2009; 4(8):e6627. · 4.09 Impact Factor

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Data provided are for informational purposes only. Although carefully collected, accuracy cannot be guaranteed. The impact factor represents a rough estimation of the journal's impact factor and does not reflect the actual current impact factor. Publisher conditions are provided by RoMEO. Differing provisions from the publisher's actual policy or licence agreement may be applicable.

Keywords

administration schedule
 
adverse effects
 
anti-malarial drug
 
blood-stage infections
 
child morbidity
 
drug choice
 
increased spread
 
infancy
 
IPT
 
IPTi
 
IPTp
 
parasite drug resistance
 
parasite-specific immunity
 
post-treatment rebound
 
pregnant women
 
standard immunizations
 
Transmission conditions
 
wide deployment
 
World Health Organization