Document Type
Article
Abstract
Artemisinin partial resistance, driven by Plasmodium falciparum K13 mutations, threatens malaria control. Zanzibar is vulnerable to artemisinin partial resistance spread but lacks recent molecular surveillance. We sequenced samples in Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania collected from 2022 to 2024. K13 mutations were found in 2 of 1440 participants (P441L, A675V) in Zanzibar and 6 of 3762 (R561H, P441L) in mainland Tanzania. Based on whole genome sequencing data, K13 mutations appear to be of African origin with regional spread. Frequent parasite importation appears to maintain partner drug mutation frequencies similar to the mainland, where artemether-lumefantrine selects for mutations favoring artesunate-amodiaquine sensitivity. Ongoing molecular surveillance remains essential to track these patterns.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Publication Info
Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume 233, Issue 2, 2026, pages e491-e495.
Rights
© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reproduction and distribution of the work, in any medium, provided the original work is not altered or transformed in any way, and that the work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.
APA Citation
Connelly, S. V., Muller, J. G., Ali, M., Ngasala, B. E., Hassan, W., Bakari, M., Kyaw L, T., Sadler, J. M., Marglous, J., Abebe A, F., Abdallah, Z., Shija, S. J., Mohammed, S., C Msolo, D., Hamza, S., Peter, E. E., Odas, M., Rutha, I. J., Nwange, M., … Juliano, J. J. (2025). Artemisinin partial resistance mutations in Zanzibar and Tanzania suggest regional spread and African origins, 2023. The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 233(2), e491–e495. https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiaf431