title: Effectiveness of alpha,beta-arteether in acute falciparum malaria.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Ispat General Hospital, Rourkela, Orissa, India.
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.forename: O P
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Asthana
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mohanty
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Patnaik
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Srivastava
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Satpathy
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dash
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Rath
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Varghese
mesh_terms: 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*
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D037621:Artemisinins; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; C055141:artemotil