Background: Point mutations in the genes, Pfcrt and Pfdhfr, have been identified elsewhere as strongly associated with resistance to chloroquine (CQ) and pyrimethamine, respectively.
Methods: Using a restriction digestion method, we report the frequency of two important mutations, T76 and Asn108, responsible for conferring resistance to chloroquine and pyrimethamine, respectively, in patients residing in malarious areas of southeastern Iran .
Results: Ninety eight and 84% of the patients were found to harbor chloroquine resistant (theronine-76) and pyrimethamine resistant (aspargin-108) mutants, respectively.
Conclusions: Despite the high frequency of T76 and Asn 108 mutations in Iranian patients, combination of CQ and pyrimethamine-sulfadoxine (SP) was shown to be quite successful with 100% adequate clinical and parasitological responses.