ABSTRACT
Two hundred and sixty seven patients of uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria completed study in a multicentric phase III clinical trial of Arteether. Arteether was given intramuscularly in a dose of 150 mg daily for three consecutive days. Each patient was followed upto 28 days of alpha, beta arteether therapy. The cure rate was 97% with fever clearance time between 1-7 days (24-168 hours) and parasite clearance time between 1-3 days (24-72 hours). Parasite reappearance rate was found to be 3% and reported at only three of the centres. Following the treatment no adverse effect was observed on haematological, biochemical and vital clinical parameters.
Subject(s)
Antimalarials/therapeutic use , Artemisinins , Malaria, Falciparum/drug therapy , Sesquiterpenes/therapeutic use , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Female , Humans , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
Forty-six patients (25 Females + 21 Males) of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum in districts Jabalpur and Mandla of central India (Madhya Pradesh) were administered alpha-beta arteether (an ethyl derivative of qinghaosu), intramuscularly for 3 consecutive days (150 mg once a day). The results revealed that there was rapid control of fever in all the patients without administration of any antipyretic drug. The mean parasite clearance time was 30.78 +/- 10.92 hours and recrudescence/reinfection rate was 6.7% within 28 days. Study indicates that arteether, besides being a potent and fast acting schizontocidal drug, also exhibited gametocytocidal action on P. falciparum.