| Abstract: | At present the basic antimalarial drugs are still the 4-aminoquinolines chloroquine and amodiaquine, the combinations of antifol compounds (such as pyrimethamine and sulfadoxine = Fansidar), and quinine. In South East Asia and parts of Latin America Plasmodium falciparum has become highly resistant to chloroquine, and increasingly so to the antifol combinations. By selecting the antimalarials bearing the lowest risk of resistance, or combinations of them, an attempt can be made to avoid failures of treatment and chemoprophylaxis. The other areas endemic for malaria tropica may still be generally considered "chloroquine sensitive", although sporadic low-grade resistance to chloroquine is reported. It would be a mistake to replace chloroquine systematically by antifol combinations in those parts of the world now as well. The questions when drug resistance is to be suspected, and how individual treatment can be adjusted to it, are likewise discussed. Mefloquine is the best known new compound, with excellent activity against multiresistant Plasmodium falciparum. A combination with Fansidar is now being developed to prevent the former from inducing resistant strains. Despite considerable experimental advances a malaria vaccine is unlikely to be generally available before the end of this decade. |
