Methaemoglobinaemia and the radical curative efficacy of 8-aminoquinoline antimalarials
Nicholas J White1,2, James A Watson1,2, J Kevin Baird2,3
  1. Mahidol Oxford Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand .
  2. Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
  3. Eijkman-Oxford Clinical Research Unit, Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, Jakarta, Indonesia
• WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT
The 8-aminoquinoline antimalarials are the only drugs which can prevent relapses of P. vivax and P. ovale malaria (radical cure) but no pharmacodynamic correlates of this activity have been identified. The 8-aminoquinolines cause dose dependent methaemoglobinaemia, and they cause haemolysis in patients with G6PD deficiency.
• WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS
Review of data accrued over the past 70 years indicates that methaemoglobinaemia is correlated with radical curative activity. Methaemoglobinaemia could be used to optimize 8-aminoquinoline antimalarial dose regimens.