Chloroquine in the Treatment of Infectious Mononucleosis

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Abstract
A double blind study of 40 patients hospitalized with infectious mononucleosis was carried out to determine the effectiveness of chloroquine as treatment for this disease. Twenty patients received chloroquine and 20 received placebos. Attributable to chloroquine therapy was the shortened duration of hospitalization (14 to 8.7 days), pharyngitis (7.1 to 4.6 days), subjective symptoms (8.3 to 5.0 days), and hepatomegaly (11.8 to 6 days). Less effect was evident concerning duration of fever (7.1 to 5.3 days), splenomegaly or lymphadenopathy (9.6 to 7.1 days), and liver function abnormalities (10.5 to 9.2 days). There was no discernible effect on degree and duration of lymphocytosis and heterophile antibody titer. Chloroquine therapy is beneficial in shortening the course of infectious mononucleosis. This benefit was neither absolute nor dramatic enough to allow the use of chloroquine as a diagnostic-therapeutic test.

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