COMPARISON OF 3, 5 AND 7 DAYS TREATMENT WITH QUINIMAX(TM) FOR FALCIPARUM-MALARIA IN GUINEA-BISSAU

Far treatment of malaria, the World Health Organization recommends 10 mg of quinine per kg bodyweight 3 times a day for at least 7 d. In Gui nea-Bissau, as in several other African countries, a 3 d treatment reg imen (10 mg/kg twice daily) is currently used. We therefore compared t he 3 d treatment period with periods of 5 and 7 d. A total of 145 chil dren with clinical malaria due to monoinfection with Plasmodium falcip arum, with greater than or equal to 20 parasites per 200 leucocytes, w ere treated with intramuscular Quinimax(TM) 10 mg per kg body-weight t wice daily for 5, 5 or 7 d. The children were then examined once weekl y for 4 weeks. Following the 3 d treatment regimen, 34 of 43 children (79%) had parasitaemia on day 28 or before; following the 5 d treatmen t regimen, 36 of 40 children (90%) did so; and following the 3 d treat ment regimen, 7 of 62 children (11%) were parasitaemic at that time. T his study thus suggests that the currently recommended 3 d Quinimax(TM ) treatment regimen in Guinea-Bissau for moderate and severe malaria i s not effective.