Antimalarial Drugs During pPregnancy

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QUESTION

What is the safest antimalarial drug to be used by a pregnant woman in her second trimester?

ANSWER

With regards to treating malaria, intravenous artesunate (or quinine, if artesunate is not available) should be used for the treatment of severe/complicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Signs of severe and/or complicated malaria include impaired consciousness, organ failure, abnormal bleeding, hypoglycemia, severe anemia and/or inability to ingest medication orally. Treatment for uncomplicated malaria (where the above signs are absent) in pregnant women is usually chloroquine for P. vivax, P. ovale, P. knowlesi and P. malariae, as well as for P. falciparum if there are no reports of this parasite being resistant to chloroquine in the area. In places where P. falciparum is resistant to chloroquine, quinine and clindamycin should be used to treat this parasite in pregnant women.

As for preventative anti-malarials (chemoprophylaxis), if a pregnant woman is travelling to an area where only P. vivax, P. ovale, P. knowlesi, P. malariae or chloroquine-sensitive P. falciparum is transmitted, then she should take chloroquine to prevent malaria. In areas where P. falciparum is resistant to chloroquine, mefloquine is also suitable during pregnancy. Note that in some areas of south-east Asia, there are areas where P. falciparum is resistant to mefloquine, which may prevent its suitability as a prophylactic in this region. Preventing malaria during pregnancy is crucial, since the mother, particularly if it is her first baby, is especially vulnerable to the parasite. Moreover, malaria can have a negative impact on the fetus.

Injections to Get Malaria

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QUESTION

I was wondering at one time did they give people shots to get malaria and then give them like I.V.S with some kind of medicine it the i.v. to counteract it, I know that some one that had ulcers of the eye and the eye specialist sent her home to her home hospital for i.v.s as he had given her a shot so she would get MALARIA, THIS would have been years ago, I don’t understnd the concept of giving her a shot for malaria and then give orders for her to have i.v.s.

ANSWER

The only reason I can think of for someone to be given an injection which might give them malaria, and then medication (perhaps in the form of an IV) in order to cure it is if they had volunteered to participate in a clinical trial, for example to test new malaria medications.

All clinical trials have to be approved by the medical research board of the country in which they are taking place, in order to ensure they comply with ethical considerations regarding patient rights, safety, etc. Many countries have an online database where clinical trials must be posted, so the public can be kept aware of what is going on. If you have such a registry in your country, you could look up whether a malaria treatment trial was conducted around the time that your friend received the injections. Otherwise, you could contact the hospital directly and ask if they participated in any trials.