title: Evaluation of the relative efficacy of various antimalarial drugs in Nigerian children under five years of age suffering from acute uncomplicated falciparum malaria.
abstract: A parallel group-randomized comparison of the therapeutic efficacy of chloroquine (CQ), amodiaquine (AM), quinine (QN), sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (S-P), mefloquine 15 mg kg-1 (M15) and mefloquine 25 mg kg-1 (M25) in acute symptomatic uncomplicated falciparum malaria was carried out in 325 children under the age of five years in Ibadan, southwestern Nigeria, using the 28-day in vivo test. The parasitological cure rate, assessed only up to day 14, was 85% in the CQ group and 100% in the other groups. The mean parasite and fever clearance times were, respectively, 2.64 and 1.20 days in the CQ-sensitive subgroup, 2.32 and 1.13 days in the AM group, 2.27 and 1.17 days in the QN group, 2.23 and 1.76 days in the S-P group, 2.13 and 1.10 days in the M15 group, and 2.07 and 1.09 days in the M25 group. The CQ-treatment failures (seven of 46 patients) were successfully treated with 25 mg kg-1 mefloquine, with parasite and fever clearance times of 1.73 and 1.0 days respectively. The study shows that, in Nigeria, CQ is now less effective than AM, S-P, QN and M in acute falciparum malaria in the group most vulnerable to the infection (the under-five-year-olds).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sowunmi
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Salako
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000655:Amodiaquine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002738:Chloroquine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004338:Drug Combinations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D015767:Mefloquine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009549:Nigeria; D011739:Pyrimethamine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011803:Quinine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013413:Sulfadoxine / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D004338:Drug Combinations; D000655:Amodiaquine; C001205:fanasil, pyrimethamine drug combination; D013413:Sulfadoxine; D002738:Chloroquine; D011803:Quinine; D015767:Mefloquine; D011739:Pyrimethamine