Effectiveness of alpha,beta-arteether in acute falciparum malaria

With the emergence of widespread chloroquine resistance and a world-wide scarcity of quinine, a search for newer antimalarial drugs has become imperative. Different derivatives of qinghaosu have been successfully tried. alpha,beta-Arteether, an ethyl derivative of qinghaosu, was administered to 51 patients with Plasmodium falciparum malaria, in a dose of 150 mg intramuscularly once a day on 3 consecutive days. Complete parasite clearance from the peripheral blood was observed in 80% of the patients at 48 h and in 98% at 72 h. The median parasite clearance time was 2 d (range 1-4 d). 65% of the patients became afebrile within 48 h and 81% by 72 h. The mean fever clearance time was 52.04 h (standard deviation 27.09). No side effect was seen. Patients were followed-up for 4 weeks; 7 were readmitted with P. falciparum infection but it could not be ascertained definitely whether these cases were reinfections or recrudescences. alpha-beta Arteether was a safe, effective and convenient drug for treating P. falciparum malaria. This is the first clinical study with arteether in falciparum malaria.