Comment: Intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in infancy

Intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) of malaria refers to the administration of doses of an antimalarial at prespecified intervals to prevent malaria—essentially a form of chemoprophylaxis. The focus has been on falciparum malaria in Africa. The most widely used and evaluated drug has been sulfadoxine—pyrimethamine, an antimalarial that for a period succeeded chloroquine as first-line treatment for falciparum malaria but then rapidly succumbed to resistance in many areas.1—5 IPT with sulfadoxine—pyrimethamine was first studied in pregnancy, for which it is now recommended in areas of sustained high transmission. IPT with this combination was then evaluated in infants, who bear much of the mortality burden from malaria in such settings.