Tafenoquine for the treatment of recurrent Plasmodium vivax malaria.
Tafenoquine was used to treat Plasmodium vivax malaria cases who had previously failed treatment with chloroquine and primaquine. Chloroquine was followed by a loading dose of tafenoquine (200 mg base/day for 3 days) and 200 mg a week was given for 8 weeks. One of 27 treated patients relapsed after 6 months of observation. A standard course of chloroquine administered with 8 weeks of tafenoquine may be more effective than chloroquine with primaquine (22.5 mg/day for 14 days) in preventing additional P. vivax relapses. Larger studies are required to optimize the combination, but our findings suggest that an extended use of tafenoquine may be required to prevent relapses of primaquine-tolerant strains of P. vivax malaria.
Kitchener
Scott
S
Centre for Military and Veterans Health, University of Queensland, Herston, Queensland, Australia. s.kitchener@uq.edu.au
Nasveld
Peter
P
Edstein
Michael D
MD
D000328:Adult; D000634:Aminoquinolines / Q000097:blood / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002738:Chloroquine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D016780:Malaria, Vivax / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012008:Recurrence
D000634:Aminoquinolines; D000962:Antimalarials; C055852:tafenoquine; D002738:Chloroquine