Malaria Treatment

QUESTION:

Is there any treatment for malaria?

ANSWER:

Yes, treatment is available for malaria and most cases can be cured easily if diagnosed accurately and early. There are several different drugs that are used to treat malaria, and different modes of ingestion.

Most cases of malaria can be treated effectively with oral drugs, usually artemisinin-based combination therapies (which contain a drug called artemisinin, long used in Chinese medicine to treat malaria) or chloroquine. The choice between these will depend on the type of malaria you have (hence the need for accurate diagnosis) as well as whether the area you are in is known to have types of malaria that are resistant to chloroquine. In addition, some types of malaria, notably P. vivax and P. ovale, require an additional drug, known as primaquine, to prevent later relapses of malaria from dormant forms of the parasite, that hide in the liver.

Severe malaria may require the administration of drugs directly into the body, usually intravenously. Quinine is often the first-choice drug at this stage, though artemisinin-based compounds have also been shown to be effective. Severe malaria, sometimes manifesting as cerebral malaria, is usually only caused by P. falciparum, the most deadly of the types of malaria found in humans.