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Background Malaria remains a major public health problem in the world. Early detection of cases and prompt treatment are the major malaria control strategies implemented in many endemic countries, including Ethiopia. Artemisinin-based combination therapy is currently recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the management of uncomplicated P. falciparum and P. vivax malaria cases. However, resistance to antimalarial drugs is a major challenge to the emergence and rapid spread of drug-resistant Plasmodium strains. Pyronaridine-artesunate (Pyramax) is an artemisinin combination therapy that has shown good efficacy for uncomplicated malaria in large-scale clinical trials conducted in Asia and Africa. This study reports the first therapeutic efficacy profile of Pyronaridine-artesunate against uncomplicated P. falciparum in Ethiopia. Methods A single-arm, prospective study with a 42-day follow-up period was conducted from March to May 2021 at Hamusit health center, according to the WHO protocol. A total of 90 adult P. falciparum mono-infection malaria cases (age ≥ 18 years) consented and were enrolled in the study. A standard single-dose regimen of Pyronaridine-artesunate was administered daily for 3 days, and clinical and parasitological outcomes were assessed at 42 days follow-up. Thick and thin blood films were prepared from capillary blood and examined by microscopy. Hemoglobin was measured using HemoCue® and dried blood spots were collected on day 0 and on the day of failure. Results Out of 90 patients, 86 (95.6%) had completed the 42-day follow-up study period. The overall PCR-corrected cure rate (adequate clinical and parasitological response) was very high at 98.9% (95% CI: 92.2–99.8%) with no serious adverse events. The parasite clearance rate was high with fast resolution of clinical symptoms; 95.6% and 100% of the study participants cleared parasitemia and fever on day 3, respectively. The mean hemoglobin concentration was significantly increased (p P. falciparum in the study population.

Background: The complexity and quantity of parasite populations circulating in a specific location are reflected in the genetic diversity of malaria parasites (s). Between 2015 and 2019, this study in Metehara, South east, Ethiopia. set out to investigate the temporal dynamics of genetic diversity and multiplicity as a result of evolutionary change in the genes that contribute to Plasmodium falciparum infection elimination. Method: Between 2015 and 2019, a cross-sectional study was carried out. from eighty-three dry blood spots from malaria patients who were screened for P. falciparum mono-infection by QPCR. From this seventy confirmed P. falciparum were genotyping to merozoite surface protein 1,2 and glutamate-rich protein using nested PCR.Result: Between 2015 and 2019, seventy (84.3%) of the isolates were successfully genotyped for all three target genes in both years. In 2015 and 2019, the allelic distributions of the three genes differed significantly (P= 0.001). Overall, the most common allelic families for msp1 and msp2 were K1 and FC27 respectively. For glurp, eight distinct genotypes were identified. In 2015, the genotyping of msp1, msp2 and glurp was 25 (86.2%), 25 (86.2%) and 24 (82.2%) respectively. K1, MAD20 and RO33 all have 19(65.5%), 3(10.3%) and 3(10.3%) msp1 allelic families respectively. In 2019 the genes were 30 (73.2%), 39 (95.1%) and 30 (73.2%). K1, MAD20, and RO33 were genotyped for 6 (14.6 percent), 18 (43.9 percent) and 6 (14.6 percent) genotyping respectively. Over all the multiplicity of infection was 1.67 (95 percent CI 1.54-1.74) and the heterozygosity index for msp1, msp2, and glurp was 0.48, 0.70, and 0.55 respectively.Conclusion: This study provides current information on the genetic diversity of P. falciparum populations in Metehara over five-year intervals, The progression of the dominant K1 variant from 2015 to MAD20 variant in 2019 was observed in this study.

Background The characterization of parasite populations circulating in malaria endemic areas is necessary to evaluate the success of ongoing interventions and malaria control strategies. This study was designed to investigate the genetic diversity of Plasmodium falciparum isolates from the semi-arid area in North East Ethiopia, using the highly polymorphic merozoite surface protein-2 (msp2) gene as a molecular marker. Methods Dried blood spot isolates were collected from patients with P. falciparum infection between September 2014 and January 2015 from Melka-Werer, North East Ethiopia. Parasite DNA was extracted and genotyped using allele-specific nested polymerase chain reactions for msp2. Results 52 isolates were collected with msp2 identified in 41 (78.8%) isolates. Allele typing of the msp2 gene detected the 3D7/IC allelic family in 54% and FC27 allelic family in 46%. A total of 14 different msp2 genotypes were detected including 6 belonging to the 3D7/IC family and 8 to the FC27 family. Forty percent of isolates had multiple genotypes and the overall mean multiplicity of infections (MOI) was 1.2 (95%CI 0.96-1.42). The heterozygosity index was 0.50 for the msp2 locus. There was no difference in MOI between age groups. A negative correlation between parasite density and multiplicity of infection was found (p = 0.02).Conclusion Plasmodium falciparum isolates from the semi-arid area of North East Ethiopia are mainly monoclonal with low MOI and limited genetic diversity in the study population.

Background Encouraged by the previous success in malaria control and prevention strategies, the Ethiopian ministry of health launched malaria elimination with a stepwise approach by primarily targeting the low-transmission Districts and their adjacent areas/zones in order to shrink the country’s malaria map progressively. Hence, this community survey was conducted to establish baseline malaria information at the preliminary phase of elimination at targeted settings. Methods A community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted at 20 malaria-elimination targeted Districts selected from five Regional states and one city administration in Ethiopia. The GPS-enabled smartphones programmed with Open Data Kit were used to enumerate 9326 study households and collect data from 29,993 residents. CareStart™ Malaria PAN (pLDH) Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) were used for blood testing at the field level. Armpit digital thermometers were used to measure axillary temperature. Result Overall malaria prevalence by RDTs was 1.17% (339/28973). The prevalence at District levels ranged from 0.0 to 4.7%. The proportion of symptomatic cases (axillary temperature > 37.5oc) in the survey was 9.2% (2760/29993). Among the 2510 symptomatic individuals tested with RDTs, only 3.35% (84/2510) were malaria positive. The 75.2% (255/339) of all malaria positives were asymptomatic. Of the total asymptomatic malaria cases, 10.2% (26/255) were under-five children and 89.8% (229/255) were above 5 years of age. Conclusion The study shows a decrease in malaria prevalence compared to the reports of previous malaria indicator surveys in the country. The finding can be used as a baseline for measuring the achievement of ongoing malaria elimination efforts. Particularly, the high prevalence of asymptomatic individuals (0.88%) in these transmission settings indicates there may be sustaining hidden transmission. Therefore, active case detection with more sensitive diagnostic techniques is suggested to know more real magnitude of residual malaria in the elimination-targeted areas.

Backgroundrumen disorder is responsible for huge economic losses in ruminants due to decrease in production and increase in expenditure towards treatment. Acidosis is one of the most ruminal disorders, characterized by changes in the rumen environment and leds to systemic acidosis. To correct this disorder, recent alternative trends in sheep rearing have led to the use of prebiotics, rumenotorics and probiotics as feed additives or treatment.Context and purposethis study was to evaluate and compares the therapeutic effectiveness of probiotics, a combination of probiotics with prebiotics, probiotics with rumenotorics and with the standard treatment under experimentally induced acidosis.Methodsthe experimental study design was conducted from September to May 2019. For therapeutic study 25 sheep were randomly divided into 5 groups with deliberately imposed ruminal acidosis as a group comprising of 5 animals each.Resultsacidosis was induced by an oral dose of 50 g/kg with wheat flour after 24-hour fasting. Four therapeutic regimes and negative control group were employed, I-Probiotics, II-Probiotics with Prebiotics, III-Probiotics with Rumenotorics and IV-Standard treatment (sodium bicarbonate) was adopted. Then, laboratory analysis of rumen fluid, physical parameters and hematological changes before and after treatment was carried out. From a comparison of each treatment groups with the control group to correct ruminal pH, the combination of probiotics with rumenotorics, the mean ± SD before treatment (4.96 ± .837) increased to (5.92 ± .54), (6.30 ± .41), (6.75 ± 0.34) after treatment, was statistically significant (p