Treatment of acute vivax malaria with tafenoquine

• Published in: Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Vol. 99; no. 1; pp. 2 - 5
• Main Authors: Nasveld, Peter, Kitchener, Scott
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 2005; Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene; Elsevier
• Subjects: Acute Disease; Administration, Oral; Adult; Aminoquinolines - administration & dosage; Aminoquinolines - blood; Antimalarials - administration & dosage; Antimalarials - blood; Biological and medical sciences; Human protozoal diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Malaria; Malaria, Vivax - blood; Malaria, Vivax - drug therapy; Male; Medical sciences; Papua New Guinea; Parasitemia - blood; Parasitemia - drug therapy; Parasitic diseases; Plasmodium vivax; Protozoal diseases; Tafenoquine; Treatment Outcome; Papua New Guinea; Melanesia; Oceania; Tafenoquine; Plasmodium vivax; Papua New Guinea; Malaria; Human; Protozoa; Antimalarial; Apicomplexa; Protozoal disease; Parasitosis; Infection; Chemotherapy; Treatment; Parasiticide; Tropical medicine
• ISSN: 0035-9203; 1878-3503
• DOI: 10.1016/j.trstmh.2004.01.013

Tafenoquine is an 8-aminoquiniline related to primaquine with pre-clinical activity against a range of malaria species. We treated two acute cases of vivax malaria with tafenoquine (800
mg over three days) alone, instead of conventional chloroquine (1500
mg over three days) and primaquine (420
mg over 14 days). In addition to the convenience of this regimen, the rapid parasite clearances observed, coupled with a good clinical response and lack of recrudescence or relapse, indicate that further investigation of tafenoquine in the treatment of vivax malaria is warranted.