Short report: comparison of chlorproguanil-dapsone with a combination of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine and chloroquine in children with malaria in northcentral Nigeria.

Effective and affordable treatment of malaria is critical in the face of resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to chloroquine (CQ) and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP). We conducted a randomized controlled trial comparing the efficacy of chlorproguanil-dapsone (CD) with a combination SP plus CQ in children in Nigeria less than five years of age with malaria. Of 264 children enrolled, 122 (89.7%) and 118 (92.2%) completed the study in the SP + CQ and CD groups, respectively. By day 3, 96 (78.7%) and 94 (79.7%) had cleared their parasitemia (P = 0.79), and 107 (87.7%) and 109 (92.4%) were symptom free (P = 0.32) in the SP + CQ and CD groups, respectively. Adequate clinical and parasitologic response at day 14 occurred in 111 (94.1%; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 91.6-95.7%) in the CD group and 113 (92.6%; 95% CI = 89.9-94.3%) in the SP + CQ group (P = 0.85). SP + CQ and CD had similar antimalarial efficacy and still provide affordable treatment of uncomplicated malaria in northcentral Nigeria.