EFFECTIVENESS OF ALPHA,BETA-ARTEETHER IN ACUTE FALCIPARUM-MALARIA

With the emergence of widespread chloroquine resistance and a world-wi de scarcity of quinine, a search for newer antimalarial drugs has beco me imperative. Different derivatives of qinghaosu have been successful ly tried. alpha, beta-Arteether, an ethyl derivative of qinghaosu, was administered to 51 patients with Plasmodium falciparum malaria, in a dose of 150 mg intramuscularly once a day on 3 consecutive days. Compl ete parasite clearance from the peripheral blood was observed in 80% o f the patients at 48 h and in 98% at 72 h. The median parasite clearan ce time was 2 d (range 1-4 d). 65% of the patients became afebrile wit hin 48 h and 81% by 72 h. The mean fever clearance time was 52.04 h (s tandard deviation 27.09). No side effect was seen. Patients were follo wed-up for 4 weeks; 7 were readmitted with P. falciparum infection but it could not be ascertained definitely whether these cases were reinf ections or recrudescences. alpha-beta Arteether was a safe, effective and convenient drug for treating P. falciparum malaria. This is the fi rst clinical study with arteether in falciparum malaria.