I earned my PhD in epidemiology and molecular biology of malaria and G6PD from the Faculty of Medicine, Univesitas Gadjah Mada. Now I join the Center for Tropical Medicine as principal investigator (PI) and Ministry of Health Republic Indonesia. My research interests focus on molecular malaria, risk factors of malaria and G6PD variant identification.
Approximately 18 million people live in malaria-endemic areas with 218,450 reported confirmed cases and 161 reported deaths in Indonesia. Currently, primaquine (PQ), the 8-aminoquinolines, is still the only drug for radical cure and preventing relapse of malaria. However, the individuals with G6PD deficiency (G6PD-d) have risk of hemolysis. Currently, few data of the prevalence of G6PD-d and genotyping are available. This study will provide the prevalence of G6PD-d and the genotyping in malaria cases in South Central Timor (TTS) district. G6PD status was analyzed with quantitative (Randox G6PD test, UK) follow with PCR-RFLP and sequencing to identify the variant of G6PD-d genotyping. Malaria was confirmed by n-PCR (Promega, Madison, USA). A total 64 of 181 individuals with G6PD-d from South Central Timor (TTS) district were analyzed. About 25 of 64 cases of G6PD-d were tested positive for malaria with P. vivax as the dominant species 56% (14/25) and most of the cases were female 73.3% (11/15). Among the 64 G6PD-d the genotyping Vanua Lava (10,883 T>C) WHO classifies G6PD-d genetic variants class II with severe deficiency <10% the enzyme activity were dominant. The variant of Vanua Lava is dominant and the high G6PD-d indicated that screening for G6PD deficiency is necessary.
Part of the book: Endemic Species