Evaluation of synthetic anti-malarial drugs in children from a hyperendemic area in West Africa

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Abstract
The therapeutic efficacy of proguanil, mepacrine and chloroquine was tested in cases of 245 African school children infected with Plasmodium falciparum, P. malariae or P. ovale. Chloroquine gave the most rapid response against P. falciparum and proguanil the slowest. Some strains of falciparum were more resistant than others to proguanil; little difference was noted in response to mepacrine, and none to chloroquine. The relapse rate in falciparum cases is higher following proguanil than it was following mepacrine or chloroquine. Proguanil was most effective in rendering ineffective gametocytes picked up by Anopheles gambiae P. malariae was much less sensitive than P. falciparum to any of the schizonticidal drugs used, whereas P. ovale was rapidly cleared up by any of them.