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Anti-Malarial Drug May be Taken During Pregnancy

Malaria is caused by a parasite that is transmitted from one human to another by the bite of infected Anopheles mosquitoes. In humans, the parasites (called sporozoites) migrate to the liver where they mature and release another form, the merozoites. These enter the bloodstream and infect the red blood cells.

The parasites multiply inside the red blood cells, which then rupture within 48 to 72 hours, infecting more red blood cells. The first symptoms usually occur 10 days to 4 weeks after infection, though they can appear as early as 8 days or as long as a year later. Then the symptoms occur in cycles of 48 to 72 hours,characterized by fever, chills, and anemia.

Malaria can also be transmitted congenitally (from a mother to her unborn baby) and by blood transfusions. Malaria can be carried by mosquitoes in temperate climates, but the parasite disappears over the winter.The disease is a major health problem in much of the tropics and subtropics. The CDC estimates that there are 300-500 million cases of malaria each year, and more than 1 million people die. It presents a major disease hazard for travelers to warm climates.

Anti-malarial drugs are:mefloquine, doxycycline, chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, or Malarone,
which can be prescribed to people traveling to areas where malaria is prevalent. It is important to see your health care provider well in advance of your departure, because treatment may begin as long as 2 weeks before entering the area, and continue for a month after leaving the area. The types of anti-malarial medications prescribed will depend on the drug-resistance patterns in the areas to be visited.

Although amodiaquine is an older malaria treatment, little was known about how safe it is in pregnant women.But researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said a cheap and widely available malaria drug is an effective treatment for pregnant women.They treated 900 pregnant women in Ghana with the drug found it eliminated the malaria parasite without causing any serious side effects.

Previous studies had already found amodiaquine alone or in combination with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) to be an effective treatment of malaria in children in west Africa, but our research confirms that this is also true for pregnant women," said Professor Brian Greenwood who reported the findings in The Lancet medical journal.

Malaria, a parasitic disease transmitted by mosquitoes, kills more than a million people a year, mostly young children in Africa.

Chloroquine had been the standard treatment against the disease. But the malaria parasite has become increasingly resistant to chloroquine and SP.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged African nations to switch to artemisinin-based combination drugs known as ACTs but doctors have been concerned about the effects of the treatment on the developing fetus.

The researchers said weakness, vomiting, dizziness and nausea were the most commonly reported side effects.

"Amodiaquine is safe if it is used properly and it is one of the drugs that is available for us to use in Africa," said Dr Harry Tagbor, a co-author of the study from St Theresa's Hospital in Nkoranza in Ghana.

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