New Study Supports Radical Treatment For Widespread Form Of Malaria

Picture of malaria mosquito feeding on human 

Scientists on Friday explained that ‘radical cure’ is the best treatment for a type of malaria called Plasmodium vivax malaria affecting 13 million people.

Led by the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin, Australia, a team of international malaria experts, published a study analysing the treatment of malaria caused by Plasmodium vivax.

Plasmodium vivax is the most common cause of recurring malaria, affecting more than 13 million people every year with 40 per cent of the world’s population at risk of infection.

“Our findings highlight the substantial benefit of a modest increase in the dose of chloroquine in children aged under 5 years and the importance of combining primaquine with chloroquine to have a better chance of curing patients.” explains Dr Rob Commons, PhD student at the Menzies School of Health Research and part of the WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network WWARN Clinical Group.

“This analysis of more than 5,000 patients from 37 studies… is the largest individual patient data meta-analysis of plasmodium vivax clinical trials to date,” Rob Commons, a member of the team from the Menzies School of Health Research, said in a media release on Friday.

“Our results show Chloroquine is currently given in lower doses than recommended, with as many as 35 per cent of patients in trials given less than the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended 25 mg per kg.

“We also know from our analysis that these patients are more likely to fail treatment.”

If left untreated, Plasmodium vivax malaria leads to severe disease and death.

“The study highlights the need for clinicians in affected areas to provide radical cure to kill the blood and liver stage of the vivax parasite and ensure patients can recover quickly.

“We also want to prevent transmission of the parasite to other people and reduce the global burden of this disease,” Commons said.





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