The effect of artemether plus mefloquine on Myanmar patients with complicated falciparum malaria

The effect of artemether plus mefloquine versus quinine on 35 patients with complicated falciparum malaria including 5 patients with cerebral malaria were studied. All patients treated with the artemether-mefloquine combination survived and all were free from toxic effects of the drugs. Three patients on quinine therapy died. The mortality rate was 8.5%. The mean parasite clearance time of patients treated with artemether plus mefloquine was significantly shorter than those treated with quinine but there was no significant difference in the mean fever clearance of the two groups of patients. There was no recrudescence with artemether and mefloquine; the recrudescence rate was 5.5% with quinine. The study showed that the artemether-mefloquine combination is superior to quinine for the treatment of patients with complicated falciparum malaria, including cerebral malaria.