Effectiveness of alpha,beta-arteether in acute falciparum malaria.
With the emergence of widespread chloroquine resistance and a world-wide scarcity of quinine, a search for newer antimalarial drugs has become imperative. Different derivatives of qinghaosu have been successfully tried. alpha,beta-Arteether, an ethyl derivative of qinghaosu, was administered to 51 patients with Plasmodium falciparum malaria, in a dose of 150 mg intramuscularly once a day on 3 consecutive days. Complete parasite clearance from the peripheral blood was observed in 80% of the patients at 48 h and in 98% at 72 h. The median parasite clearance time was 2 d (range 1-4 d). 65% of the patients became afebrile within 48 h and 81% by 72 h. The mean fever clearance time was 52.04 h (standard deviation 27.09). No side effect was seen. Patients were followed-up for 4 weeks; 7 were readmitted with P. falciparum infection but it could not be ascertained definitely whether these cases were reinfections or recrudescences. alpha-beta Arteether was a safe, effective and convenient drug for treating P. falciparum malaria. This is the first clinical study with arteether in falciparum malaria.
Mishra
S K
SK
Department of Internal Medicine, Ispat General Hospital, Rourkela, Orissa, India.
Asthana
O P
OP
Mohanty
S
S
Patnaik
J K
JK
Das
B S
BS
Srivastava
J S
JS
Satpathy
S K
SK
Dash
S
S
Rath
P K
PK
Varghese
K
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D037621:Artemisinins; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D000962:Antimalarials; D037621:Artemisinins; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; C055141:artemotil