Trials of mefloquine in vivax and of mefloquine plus 'fansidar' in falciparum malaria.
Two randomised double-blind trials were conducted to examine the activity and tolerability of mefloquine alone and in combination with sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine ( MSP). In one trial mefloquine was compared with chloroquine in 40 patients with Plasmodium vivax malaria and in the other one mefloquine was compared with MSP in 40 patients with P falciparum malaria. The former trial showed that both a single oral dose of 250 mg mefloquine and a single oral dose of 450 mg chloroquine (base) were highly effective in relieving symptoms of malaria and in clearing P vivax parasitaemia. No side-effects and no changes in laboratory variables attributable to the test drugs were observed. The other trial showed that a single oral dose of 750 mg mefloquine and a single oral dose of MSP (750 mg mefloquine plus 3 tablets of 'Fansidar', were equally effective in the treatment of falciparum malaria. 2/4 treatment failures in the mefloquine group and 2/3 treatment failures in the MSP group were due to low plasma drug levels resulting from vomiting soon after ingestion of the tablets. Gametocytes of P falciparum were unaffected by either mefloquine or MSP. 5 patients in each group had side-effects such as vomiting, skin rash, diarrhoea, and transient mental confusion. Mefloquine was well tolerated by patients with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency or heterozygous haemoglobin E.[1]References
- Trials of mefloquine in vivax and of mefloquine plus 'fansidar' in falciparum malaria. Harinasuta, T., Bunnag, D., Lasserre, R., Leimer, R., Vinijanont, S. Lancet (1985) [Pubmed]
Annotations and hyperlinks in this abstract are from individual authors of WikiGenes or automatically generated by the WikiGenes Data Mining Engine. The abstract is from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.About WikiGenesOpen Access LicencePrivacy PolicyTerms of Useapsburg
