Ideally, every case of malaria should be followed up to ensure the completion of treatment and parasitological cure. Any evidence of treatment failure, despite full treatment, and no vomiting, is an indication to treat with second line drugs without further delay. WHO has developed a revised protocol for assessment and…
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Go to Treatment of P. vivax / P. ovale / P. malariae | Treatment of Uncomplicated P. falciparum | Treatment of Severe Malaria Aims of Treatment Aims Causation Therapy Drugs To alleviate symptoms Symptoms are caused by blood forms of the parasite Blood schizonticidal drugs Chloroquine, quinine, artemisinin combinations To…
Early and effective chemotherapy for malaria has a pivotal role in reducing morbidity and mortality especially since a vaccine is unlikely to emerge within the next decade. Multidrug resistance has been reported from most parts of the world and as a result, monotherapy or some of the available combination chemotherapies…
Primaquine is the essential co-drug with chloroquine in treating all cases of malaria. It is highly effective against the gametocytes of all plasmodia and thereby prevents spread of the disease to the mosquito from the patient. It is also effective against the dormant tissue forms of P. vivax and P.…
Mother Nature gave us the cinchona alkaloids and qinghaosu. World War II led to the introduction of chloroquine, chloroguanide (proguanil), and eventually amodiaquine and pyrimethamine. The war in Vietnam brought mefloquine and halofantrine. These drugs are all we have available now to treat malaria. It is difficult to see where…
A clinician who faces a case of fever would need answers to the following questions: Is it malaria? If yes; What is the species? Is it severe? Is it new/ recurrence? Is it active? At present, ONLY the peripheral smear can provide answers to ALL these questions on a single…
Non-Microscopic Tests Several attempts have been made to take the malaria diagnosis out of the realm of the microscope and the microscopist. Important advances have been made in diagnostic testing, including fluorescence microscopy of parasite nuclei stained with acridine orange, rapid dipstick immunoassay, and Polymerase Chain Reaction assays.[1] These tests…
See Kakkilaya BS. Rapid Diagnosis of Malaria. Lab Medicine. 2003 Aug;8(34):602-608 [See] Although the peripheral blood smear examination that provides the most comprehensive information on a single test format has been the “gold standard” for the diagnosis of malaria, the immunochromatographic tests for the detection of malaria antigens, developed in…
Diagnosis of malaria involves identification of malaria parasite or its antigens/products in the blood of the patient. Although this seems simple, the efficacy of the diagnosis is subject to many factors. The different forms of the four malaria species; the different stages of erythrocytic schizogony; the endemicity of different species;…
