1. Post-treatment haemolysis in African children with hyperparasitaemic falciparum malaria; a randomized comparison of artesunate and quinine.
- Author
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Fanello, C., Onyamboko, M., Lee, S. J., Woodrow, C., Setaphan, S., Chotivanich, K., Buffet, P., Jauréguiberry, S., Rockett, K., Stepniewska, K., Day, N. P. J., White, N. J., and Dondorp, A. M.
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DRUG therapy for malaria , *SEPTICEMIA treatment , *ERYTHROCYTES , *ANTIMALARIALS , *BLOOD transfusion , *COMPARATIVE studies , *HEMOLYSIS & hemolysins , *HEMOLYTIC anemia , *HOSPITAL care , *INTRAVENOUS therapy , *RESEARCH methodology , *MEDICAL cooperation , *QUININE , *RESEARCH , *RESEARCH funding , *SEPSIS , *EVALUATION research , *RANDOMIZED controlled trials , *THERAPEUTICS - Abstract
Background: Parenteral artesunate is the treatment of choice for severe malaria. Recently, haemolytic anaemia occurring 1 to 3 weeks after artesunate treatment of falciparum malaria has been reported in returning travellers in temperate countries.Methods: To assess these potential safety concerns in African children, in whom most deaths from malaria occur, an open-labelled, randomized controlled trial was conducted in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. 217 children aged between 6 months and 14 years with acute uncomplicated falciparum malaria and parasite densities over 100,000/μL were randomly allocated to intravenous artesunate or quinine, hospitalized for 3 days and then followed for 42 days.Results: The immediate reduction in haemoglobin was less with artesunate than with quinine: median (IQR) fall at 72 h 1.4 g/dL (0.90-1.95) vs. 1.7 g/dL (1.10-2.40) (p = 0.009). This was explained by greater pitting then recirculation of once infected erythrocytes. Only 5% of patients (in both groups) had a ≥ 10% reduction in haemoglobin after day 7 (p = 0.1). One artesunate treated patient with suspected concomitant sepsis had a protracted clinical course and required a blood transfusion on day 14.Conclusions: Clinically significant delayed haemolysis following parenteral artesunate is uncommon in African children hospitalised with acute falciparum malaria and high parasitaemias.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov ; Identifier: NCT02092766 (18/03/2014). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2017
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