Current clinical efficacy of chloroquine for the treatment of Plasmodium falciparum infections in urban Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania

Reported is the use of a 14-day WHO protocol, which takes into account the clinical, parasitological and haematological responses to antimalarial drug s, to determine the efficacy of chloroquine in the treatment of uncomplicat ed malaria in young children (n = 200) in urban Dar es Salaam. Chloroquine failure was found in 43% of the children. Of these, 12.5% were considered t o be early treatment failures and were given a single dose of sulfadoxine-p yrimethamine. Fever subsided in all children treated with sulfadoxine-pyrim ethamine and there were no parasitological failures. in addition, children treated with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine because of early treatment failure w ith chloroquine had better haematological recovery than the chloroquine-sen sitive group. It is concluded that chloroquine can no longer be considered an effective therapy for P. falciparum malaria in young children in Dar es Salaam.