Tropical malaria

Primaquine is used for treating and preventing late relapses of 3- and 4-day malaria as well as tropic malaria. Synonyms of this drug are avion and others. 

With 300—500 million new infections annually, malaria is one of the most common infectious diseases in the world. The mortality rate is about 2 mil-lion/year. In Germany, approximately 1,000 cases are reported each year, and the tendency is rising. About half of them are due to tropical malaria. 

Quartan malaria is caused by Plasmodium malariae (incubation period of 18-40 days), tertian malaria by Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium ovale (incubation period of 10 to 18 days), and tropical malaria by Plasmodium falciparum (incubation period of 7 to 14 days) ... 

Malaria affects an estimated 270 million people and causes 2—3 million deaths annually, approximately one million of which occur in children under the age of five. While primarily an affliction of the tropics and subtropics, it has occurred as far north as the Arctic Circle. The disease essentially has been eradicated in most temperate-zone countries, but some 1100 cases of malaria in U.S. citizens returning from abroad were reported to the Centers for Disease Control during 1990. Malaria is seen today in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Central and South America. It is on the increase in Afghanistan, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. Escalation of the disease is because of the discontinued use of the insecticide DDT which effectively kills mosquito larvae, but has been found to be toxic to Hvestock and wildlife. Also, chloroquine (6), a reUable dmg for the prophylaxis and treatment of falcipamm malaria, is ineffective in many parts of the world because of the spread of dmg-resistant strains. 

ALKALOIDS OF PICRALIMA KLAINEANA This Apocynaceous species is widely but sparsely distributed in tropical Africa, wh re the seeds enjoy an undeserved reputation as a specific for malaria. The drug is rich in alkaloids of which nine have been isolated and characterised. ... 

C18-0138. Quinine, an alkaloid derived from a free that grows in tropical rain forests, is used in the treatment of malaria. Like all alkaloids, quinine is a sparingly soluble weak base 1.00 g of quinine will dissolve in 1.90 X 10 L of water, (a) What is the pH of a saturated solution of quinine (b) A 100.0-mL sample of saturated quinine is titrated with 0.0100 M HCl solution. What is the pH at the stoichiometric point of the titration ... 

Despite problems with its use, DDT has saved countless lives in regions where malaria is endemic. Tropical Asian countries, which have discontinued its use, have seen malaria incidence increase India and some other countries still cling to use of DDT because it is cheap and effective. Tissue levels in wildlife of the regions where DDT was banned began to decline about 10 years after DDT was banned however, DDT and its metabolites may routinely be detected in soil and bottom sediments even today (Galiulin and Bashkin, 1996). Over a long time, DDT is subject to atmospheric migration, for example from India to the Asian polar zone, to contribute to the contamination of local ecosystems as well. 

Malaria, a tropical disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmodium, has been a major concern for centuries and has now extended to a great deal of the world s population, killing every year 1-2 million people. Different medicines are in use to cure or to prevent malaria. The classical natural medicine quinine was soon replenished with synthetic compounds such as primaquine, chloroquine and mefloquine. However, a major problem is still an increasing resistance towards these compounds. 

In Uganda, Marsden et al. (M31) and in Zambia, Lowenthal et al. (L5) reemphasized the association between tropical splenomegaly and malarial infection, and, with the introduction of specific immunochemical assay methods, interest in the association between tropical splenomegaly and malaria was reawakened. 

Wernsdorfer, W. H. 1994. Epidemiology of drug resistance in malaria. Acta Tropical, 56 143-156. 

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