The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7272 p573
25 October 2003

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New England Journal of Medicine abstract (more)

Current drugs fail to halt late-onset malaria

Most cases of late-onset malaria are not prevented by commonly used antimalarials, according to researchers.

Malaria surveillance data from Israel and the United States show that up to one-third of cases are late-onset illnesses. Cases were caused by Plasmodium vivax or P ovale and occurred despite patients using the recommended regimens. Most anti-malarial agents act on the blood phase of the life-cycle of malaria parasites and therefore do not prevent late-onset illness. The researchers say that more agents that act on the liver phase (when the parasites multiply in the hepatocytes) are needed (New England Journal of Medicine 2003;349:1510).