The assessment of antimalarial drug efficacy.
Antimalarial drug efficacy in uncomplicated malaria should be assessed parasitologically in large, community-based trials, enrolling the age groups most affected by clinical disease. For rapidly eliminated drugs, a 28-day follow-up is needed, but, for slowly eliminated drugs, up to nine weeks could be required to document all recrudescences, and, when possible, the drug levels should also be measured. The WHO 14-day assessments are neither sensitive nor specific. In tropical Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium ovale infections treated with chloroquine, the first relapse is usually suppressed by residual drug levels. A relapse cannot be distinguished confidently from a recrudescence. Host immunity is a major contributor to the therapeutic response, and can make failing drugs appear effective.
White
Nicholas J
NJ
Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, 10400, Bangkok, Thailand. fnnjw@diamond.mahidol.ac.th
D000818:Animals; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004351:Drug Resistance; D006801:Humans; D016780:Malaria, Vivax / Q000188:drug therapy*; D041122:Plasmodium ovale; D010966:Plasmodium vivax; D012008:Recurrence; D017211:Treatment Failure; D014944:World Health Organization
D000962:Antimalarials