Mutations in the Plasmodium falciparum cytochrome b gene are associated with delayed parasite recrudescence in malaria patients treated with atovaquone-proguanil.

Background Fixed-dose combination antimalarial drugs have played an increasingly important role in the treatment and chemoprophylaxis of falciparum malaria since the worldwide failure of monotherapy with chloroquine. Atovaquone-proguanil is one such combination drug used both for prophylaxis in travellers, and for treatment of acute malaria cases in European hospitals and clinics.