Comparison of combinations of parenteral artemisinin derivatives plus oral mefloquine with intravenous quinine plus oral tetracycline for treating cerebral malaria.

A total of 141 cases of strictly defined cerebral malaria were studied in a controlled trial of three regimens: (1) intramuscular artemether plus oral mefloquine, (2) intravenous artesunate plus oral mefloquine, and (3) intravenous quinine (with or without an initial loading dose) plus oral tetracycline. The overall mortalities in each group were 14%, 8.3% and 34.3% respectively. The average parasite clearance time was 27.30 +/- 19.62 hours in regimen 1, 41.84 +/- 17.55 hours in regimen 2, and 47.30 +/- 21.95 hours in regimen 3. No recrudescence was observed in regimens 1 and 2, but 12.1% recrudesced in the third.