2024, Vol. 12, Issue 5, Part B

Malaria is a parasitic infection transmitted by the Anopheles mosquito that leads to acute life-threatening disease and poses a significant global health threat. The study aimed to compare the effectiveness of artemether-lumefantrine and artesunate-amodiaquine combinations in the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in patients attending Federal Medical Center, Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria. Four hundred and four patients were recruited from those who were clinically diagnosed of uncomplicated malaria amongst those who visited the Federal Medical Center, Umuahia. Sample size was calculated using Cochran’s formula. The following laboratory procedures were carried out for malaria parasite identification: parasite clearance rate, pack cell volume. The effectiveness of Artemether-lumefantrine and Artesunate-Amodiaquine was assessed using parasite clearance hematological analysis. The results of this study showed that there were good adherence to the two drug combinations (AA and AL) and their Creatinine at p<0.05 for day 0, 3, 7, 14 and 28 of AA and AL, with p=0.0001 of all the days. The results of the study also showed that Artesunate-Amodiaquine displayed more parasite clearance rate than artemether-lumefantrine with median parasite count of 80 and 90 respectively. The result also showed that Artesunate-Amodiaquine had a better median parasite count reduction (96) than Artemether-lumefantrine (98) after 4 weeks indicating that Artesunate-Amodiaquine has better effect in parasite reduction than Artemether-lumefantrine. It is therefore recommended that further studies should be carried out in other parts of the country to ascertain if the drug’s combination effect are the same.