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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Suggest Medication For Malaria Infection During Pregnancy

i am pregnant of 5th week. My BHCG values are 2,613.91 mlU/ml as on 22.06.2011. My Malarial Antigen test shows plasmodium vivax positive.Haemoglobin is 11.8. WBC Count is 2.5, Lymph# 0.3 and platelet count is 79, Trophozoites of P. Vivax seen. I need to ask which medicine should i take which is safe and will no adverse effect on pregnancy/feotus......Aalia from Mumbai
Tue, 9 Jun 2015
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General & Family Physician 's  Response
Dear Aalia, Hi

Welcome to HCM.
I appreciate your concern for the safety and effective drugs for malaria during pregnancy.

Chloroquine is the safest drug to be used to treat P. vivax infection during pregnancy.
However in case of Chloroquine resistance, Quinine and Clindamycin combination is the most effective treatment option another option is use of Mefloquine.

The parasites (hypnozoites) of P Vivax remain dormant in the liver as they are not killed by any of the above medications and thus responsible for relapse of the malaria, so Primaquine is used to eradicate those hypnozoites.

Since Primaquine is contraindicated during pregnancy. Chloroquine is given once weekly for the duration of pregnancy for prevention of relapse of malaria.
After delivery, the patient should be treated with Primaquine once daily for 14 days. Before starting the treatment with Primaquine G6PD status should be confirmed as Primaquine is known to cause severe hemolysis in patients with G6PD deficiency.

In addition to the above medications, Paracetamol can be used to treat fever and iron and folic acid supplementation as a part of routine antenatal care should be continued.

Hope the treatment options given above could be useful in the treatment of P vivax malaria during and after the pregnancy.

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Suggest Medication For Malaria Infection During Pregnancy

Dear Aalia, Hi Welcome to HCM. I appreciate your concern for the safety and effective drugs for malaria during pregnancy. Chloroquine is the safest drug to be used to treat P. vivax infection during pregnancy. However in case of Chloroquine resistance, Quinine and Clindamycin combination is the most effective treatment option another option is use of Mefloquine. The parasites (hypnozoites) of P Vivax remain dormant in the liver as they are not killed by any of the above medications and thus responsible for relapse of the malaria, so Primaquine is used to eradicate those hypnozoites. Since Primaquine is contraindicated during pregnancy. Chloroquine is given once weekly for the duration of pregnancy for prevention of relapse of malaria. After delivery, the patient should be treated with Primaquine once daily for 14 days. Before starting the treatment with Primaquine G6PD status should be confirmed as Primaquine is known to cause severe hemolysis in patients with G6PD deficiency. In addition to the above medications, Paracetamol can be used to treat fever and iron and folic acid supplementation as a part of routine antenatal care should be continued. Hope the treatment options given above could be useful in the treatment of P vivax malaria during and after the pregnancy. Rate this answer, if you are convinced.