{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,27]],"date-time":"2026-09-27T05:59:09Z","timestamp":1790488749991,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":75,"publisher":"Wiley","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,20]],"date-time":"2020-10-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1603152000000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Journal of Parasitology Research"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,20]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Background. Africa still bears the largest burden of malaria as the majority of infections in the continent are caused by P. falciparum. Artemether-lumefantrine (AL, Coartem\u00ae) is the most widely used artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT), for treating uncomplicated falciparum malaria globally. However, the development of resistance to antimalarial drugs is a major challenge for malaria control. In this review, the efficacy of AL for the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in Africa was evaluated. Methods. Articles published between January 2015 and July 2019 were systematically searched using comprehensive search strings from PubMed\/Medline, SCOPUS, and grey literature from Google Scholar. Interventional studies that followed patients for at least 28 days were included. Two reviewers independently assessed study eligibility, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias. All the included articles were measured to be good quality. While computing the efficacy of AL, polymerase chain reaction (PCR)\u2013corrected cure rate (adequate clinical and parasitological response, ACPR) at day 28 was considered as the main endpoint. Meta-analysis was computed using STATA v 15 to calculate the pooled ACPR. Results. In this review, 39 articles that reported the treatment outcome of 8,320 patients were included. After 28 days of follow-up, the pooled PCR uncorrected and corrected APCR was at 87% (95% CI: 85-90%) and 97.0% (95% CI: 96-98%), respectively. Moreover, the proportion of early treatment failure (ETF) was almost 0%, while most of the included articles reported &lt;8% late treatment failures. The reinfection and recrudescence rate was less than 10% and 2.6%, respectively, within 28 days. We noted rapid fever and parasite clearance in which greater than 93% and 94% patients were parasite and fever free at day three following AL treatment. Conclusions. This review discovered that despite more than a decade since its introduction, Coartem\u00ae remains effective and thus could continue to be the drug of choice for the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria for all age groups in Africa. However, the risk of new emerging resistance for this combination warrants regular monitoring of its efficacy across the continent.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1155\/2020\/7371681","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,22]],"date-time":"2020-10-22T15:35:09Z","timestamp":1603380909000},"page":"1-14","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":25,"title":["Therapeutic Efficacy of Artemether-Lumefantrine (Coartem\u00ae) for the Treatment of Uncomplicated Falciparum Malaria in Africa: A Systematic Review"],"prefix":"10.1155","volume":"2020","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6949-3494","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Awoke","family":"Derbie","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Microbiology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia"},{"name":"Centre for Innovative Drug Development and Therapeutic Trials for Africa (CDT-Africa), Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia"},{"name":"Department of Health Biotechnology, Biotechnology Research Institute, Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Mekonnen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Microbiology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia"},{"name":"Department of Health Biotechnology, Biotechnology Research Institute, Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Meseret","family":"Adugna","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Biruk","family":"Yeshitela","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Armaur Hanssen Research Institute (AHRI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yimtubezinash","family":"Woldeamanuel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Innovative Drug Development and Therapeutic Trials for Africa (CDT-Africa), Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia"},{"name":"Department of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tamrat","family":"Abebe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","reference":[{"key":"1","volume-title":"Drug Resistance in the Malaria-Endemic World","author":"CDC","year":"2019"},{"key":"2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/nrmicro.2017.161"},{"key":"3","volume-title":"Guidelines for the treatment of malaria","author":"WHO","year":"2015","edition":"3rd"},{"key":"4","volume-title":"Malaria","author":"WHO","year":"2017"},{"key":"5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pt.2016.11.006"},{"key":"6","unstructured":"Organization, WHWorld Malaria Report2018https:\/\/apps.who.int\/iris\/bitstream\/handle\/10665\/275867\/9789241565653-eng.pdf"},{"issue":"6","key":"7","first-page":"181","article-title":"Artemisinin-based combination treatment of falciparum malaria","volume":"77","author":"N. 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