Emerging Southeast Asian PfCRT mutations confer Plasmodium falciparum resistance to the first-line antimalarial piperaquine

Abstract

Increasing resistance of Plasmodium falciparum strains to piperaquine (PPQ) in Southeast Asia is of concern and resistance mechanisms are incompletely understood. Here, Ross et al. show that mutations in the P. falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter are rapidly increasing in prevalence in Cambodia and confer resistance to PPQ.