Chemotherapy of malaria with special reference to drug interactions with chloroquine and herbal management of malaria in Kenya

Abstract

The first part of this project deals with chloroquine and its interactions with other drugs. A survey carried out in New Nyanza General Hospital (Kisumu, Kenya) a malaria endemic area, revealed that chloroquine was indeed the first line of management in the chemotherapy of malaria. The same survey indicated that chloroquine poisoning contributed to a total of 429 deaths in the above hospital within a span of seven years. Out of a sample of 1,153 patients treated in the outpatient clinic during-the survey period showed that 65.9% were adults. No sex variation in the treatment and incidence of malaria was noticed. Chloroquine dosage varied from an underdose of 6 by 250mg tablets in 3 days to an overdose of 20 by 250mg tablet in 5 days. Out of the analysed population 3.4% was given prophylactic treatment with a dose of 2 by 250mg chloroquine tablets weekly for a period ranging from 10 weeks to 6 months. Chloroquine drug combination therapy showed that the highest frequency was with aspirin at 23.12% followed by paracetamol with a frequency of 18.85%. This reveals that analgesic antipyretics are routinely given with chloroquine.