[New ways of treating and preventing malaria: mefloquine (Lariam)]

Mefloquine--a quinolinemethanol--opens new aspects in the therapy and prophylaxis of malaria. Since this drug will be soon available in Austria, a review of the pharmacological and clinical data is given. Preliminary results of studies dealing with resistance induction against mefloquine showed that Plasmodium falciparum can develop resistance to this substance in vivo as well as in vitro. Hence, some guidelines are given, in particular with regard to the use of mefloquine as a prophylactic drug. It should be used only in malaria endemic zones in which highly chloroquine resistant Plasmodium falciparum is prevalent and the duration of prophylactic administration should be limited to 3 months in order to prevent the development of resistance. However, mefloquine has proved to be a valuable new drug, well tolerated in clinical trials and with pharmacological properties that make its use simple and safe.