title: Treatment of imported severe malaria with artesunate instead of quinine--more evidence needed?
abstract: Rapid and fast acting anti-malarials are essential to treat severe malaria. Quinine has been the only option for parenteral therapy until recently. While current evidence shows that intravenous artesunate is more effective than quinine in treating severe malaria in endemic countries, some questions remain regarding safety profiles and drug resistance. For imported severe malaria, additional unanswered questions are related to generalizability of the findings from endemic countries and to legal aspects, as there is no Good Manufacturing Practice-conform drug available yet. Here, the implications of existing evidence for the treatment of imported severe malaria are discussed.
authors: Bernhard Nocht Clinic for Tropical Medicine, I, Department of Tropical Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Bernhard-Nocht-Strasse 74, 20359 Hamburg, Germany. cramer@bni-hamburg.de
authors: Jakob P
authors: JP
authors: Cramer
authors: Rogelio
authors: R
authors: López-Vélez
authors: Gerd D
authors: GD
authors: Burchard
authors: Martin P
authors: MP
authors: Grobusch
authors: Peter J
authors: PJ
authors: de Vries
mesh_terms: D000962:Antimalarials / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D037621:Artemisinins / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D000077332:Artesunate; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D008288:Malaria / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011803:Quinine / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D037621:Artemisinins; D000077332:Artesunate; D011803:Quinine