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Biomedical subjects

A P Hall

Publications and source records attributed to A P Hall.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

Severity of imported falciparum malaria: effect of taking antimalarial prophylaxis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of antimalarial chemoprophylaxis and other variables on the severity of falciparum malaria. DESIGN: Review of consecutive malaria cases between 1987 and 1991. SETTING: The Hospital for Tropical Diseases, London. SUBJECTS: 250 consecutive cases of mild and 51 consecutive cases of severe falciparum malaria. RESULTS: Prophylaxis was taken in 52.4% (131/250) of the cases of mild malaria and 21.6% (11/51) of cases of severe malaria. Severe malaria was more common in white patients than in those of African origin and was also seen more commonly in people returning from central, southern, and east Africa than in those returning from west Africa. Patients with severe malaria presented sooner than patients with mild malaria. CONCLUSIONS: Prior chemoprophylaxis led to a reduction in the severity of falciparum malaria. Ethnic origin, time to presentation, and sex were also associated with the severity of malaria.

Adult

Preventing deaths from malaria.

To reduce the number of avoidable deaths from malaria in Britain the following five points are recommended. Parliament should pass a Malaria Prevention Act that compels travel agents and airlines to give written and verbal advice on prevention and diagnosis of malaria to people travelling to countries where the disease occurs. To improve diagnostic and therapeutic efficiency for all diseases the Department of Health and Social Security should prepare a procedure manual for the NHS that gives guidance for doctors and other medical staff. Avoidable deaths from all diseases should be the subject of open inquiries at district medical committees, with recorded evidence. Failure to perform diagnostic tests such as blood films for malaria in cases of sickness in people returning from the tropics should automatically be considered negligent. Compensation should be offered by the State to the next of kin of people who have died because of medical negligence from malaria or other diseases.

Coroners and Medical Examiners

Sequential treatment with quinine and mefloquine or quinine and pyrimethamine-sulfadoxine for falciparum malaria.

Patients with falciparum malaria were studied in Thailand, an area of known chloroquine resistance. The patients were unselected and some had severe malaria, and they were randomly assigned to one of two sequential regimes. A short course of quinine (average 4 doses, equivalent to 2 g base) followed by a single dose of pyrimethamine-sulfadoxine (Fansidar) cured 92% of patients (36 out of 39), while a short course of quinine followed by a single 1-5-dose of mefloquine cured all of the 35 patients who could be followed up. Gastrointestinal side effects were minimal if at least 12 hours elapsed between the last dose of quinine and the mefloquine. Sequential quinine and mefloquine is the most effective treatment for patients with chloroquine-resistant falciparum malaria, including those with severe or complicated disease. Mefloquine, however, is not commercially available, and the similar regimen using Fansidar is almost as effective.

Adolescent

The treatment of severe falciparum malaria.

In severe falciparum malaria there is a pathophysiological cascade beginning with changes in the parasitized red blood cells which induce intermediate effects, in turn contributing to dysfunction of several organs. A low serum albumin is a common but often unrecognized finding which may contribute to oedema especially in the lung and brain. The only irreversible complication in falciparum malaria is the acute respiratory distress syndrome, manifested by cyanosis and rapid breathing, basically distinct from acute pulmonary oedema caused by therapeutic overhydration. The pathophysiology of falciparum malaria may be complex but the treatment is simple. Drugs, other than antimalarials, are rarely needed. Guidelines for cholorquine or quinine dosage in severe disease are proposed; each drug is given at a dose of 5 to 10 mg/kg in 10 ml/kg of fluid as an intravenous infusion in four hours at a frequency of dosing every 12 to 24 hours. When the disease has been brought under control the treatment should be changed from the intravenous to the oral route.

Adult

The treatment of malaria.

At least four doses of quinine followed by a single dose of mefloquine or by a single dose of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine are two highly effective regimens for chloroquine-resistant falciparum malaria. Mefloquine alone is valuable in ambulant patients. Chloroquine-sensitive falciparum malaria can be treated with a course of chloroquine. Vivax and all other types of malaria should be treated with sequential chloroquine and primaquine. Quinine, by intravenous infusion, is the most effective drug for severe falciparum malaria. The optimum intravenous dose varies between 5 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg administered over four hours. Intravenous or oral quinine should be administered about every 12 hours and the total daily dose of quinine should rarely exceed 20 mg/kg. Intravenous fluid input should be controlled in falciparum malaria to prevent pulmonary oedema. Established renal failure is best treated by dialysis. The value of adrenocortical steroids for falciparum coma has not been established. Fresh blood transfusion may be helpful in small doses for severe anaemia and to replace clotting factors. Anticoagulants, such as heparin, should not be used in falciparum malaria.

Anemia

Single-dose therapy of Falciparum malaria using pyrimethamine in combination with diformyldapsone or sulfadoxine.

Patients with naturally acquired chloroquine-resistant falciparum malaria were studied in Thailand. The fixed combination of pyrimethamine 75 mg and sulfadoxine 1,500 mg (adult dose) cured 85% of patients with an average pretreatment parasite count of 60,000 per mm(3). The fixed combination of pyrimethamine 50 mg and 800 mg diformyldapsone (DFD) cured 43% of patients with an average pretreatment parasite count of only 17,000 per mm(3). The difference in cure rates was statistically significant (p less than 0.01). Pyrimethamine alone was ineffective. Pyrimethamine-DFD, in the dose tested, was not sufficiently active for the treatment of established infections. Pyrimethamine-sulfadoxine did produce an acceptable cure rate but clinical improvement was often slow. We do not recommend that pyrimethamine-sulfadoxine be administered alone. Optimal results are obtained when a short course of quinine (2 to 6 days) is given until parasitemia has been eliminated, then a dose of pyrimethamine-sulfadoxine to assist in the radical cure of the falciparum infection. A modification to the W.H.O. classification is suggested. An RIII response (early treatment failure) is diagnosed if the patient's clinical condition and/or parsite density worsens within a few hours after administration of the test regimen; distinct improvement occurring within a few hours of the subsequent initiation of an intravenous infusion of quinine confirms the diagnosis of an RIII response. The RII response has been defined as marked reduction, but not clearance of asexual parasitemia. It is suggested that an RII response may be diagnosed before 7 days have elapsed.

Adolescent

Falciparum malaria semi-resistant to clindamycin.

Clindamycin, a semi-synthetic antibiotic of the lincomycin family, at a dose of 450 mg eight-hourly for three days in adults cured five out of 10 patients moderately ill with chloroquine-resistant falciparum malaria. Combination therapy with full-dose quinine and clindamycin for three days cured all four patients so treated who were followed up, and with half dosage three out of five patients were cured. Both combinations, however, caused upper gastrointestinal toxicity and appeared to potentiate both toxicity and possibly antimalarial efficacy. Colitis due to clindamycin was not observed. Sequential therapy was not toxic and could be useful in patients who have relapsed after more conventional treatment.

Blood

Falciparum malaria cured by quinine followed by sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine.

Quinine (at least four doses given at intervals of eight to 12 hours) followed by a single dose of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (Fansidar) is the most effective treatment of chloroquine-resistant falciparum malaria. This regimen cured 96% of patients (302 out of 314) with an average initial parasite count of 90 X 10-9/1.

Administration, Oral

Comparison of a 9-phenanthrene methanol (WR33063), a 4-quinoline methanol (WR30090), and quinine for falciparum malaria in Thailand.

Quinine was compared with a 9-phenanthrene methanol (WR33063) and a 4-quinoline methanol (WR30090) for the treatment of 207 patients with falciparum malaria in Southeast Thailand. Quinine eradicated parasitaemia (average 70 hours) more rapidly than either WR30090 (72 hours) or WR33063 (77 hours). But WR33063 had a higher cure rate (92%) than WR30090 (86%) or quinine (85%). The mean duration of fever and of parasitaemia were combined with the failure rate to form an arbitrary efficacy index. Using this concept WR33063 was the most effective drug. The recrudescence rate correlated with the degree and duration of parasitaemia and with the duration of fever. WR33063 was the least toxic drug. Side effects associated with WR30090 appeared to be headache, backache and urticaria. Quinine was the most toxic drug. All 3 drugs were inconvenient in having to be administered every 8 hours for 6 days. One patient did not respond to oral quinine but did respond to an intravenous quinine infusion (IVQ). A "Medication Ward Round" was perfected during the study and comprised sequential history, drug administration, physical examination, dose notation and patient observation. Falciparum nephrosis was diagnosed in one patient.

Adolescent

Amodiaquine resistant falciparum malaria in Thailand.

Amodiaquine cured 38% (13/34) of patients with falciparum malaria in Southeast Thailand. Chloroquine cured 0% (0/13). The cure rates with amodiaquine were the same whether a 1.5 g or 2.0 g course was used. Most patients were resistant to amodiaquine at the RI level and to chloroquine at the RII level. In hospital, amodiaquine cleared parasitemia more frequently than did chloroquine. With the 2.0 g course of amodiaquine, the parasite clearance time was 77 hours; the fever clearance time of 36 hours was low and suggests that amodiaquine does not cause a drug fever. Because of resistance, chloroquine should not be used for falciparum malaria in Thailand. Routine use of amodiaquine is not indicated because more effective drugs are available.

Administration, Oral

The decision to operate in rheumatoid arthritis.

The physician caring for the patient with rheumatoid arthritis should not look upon surgery as a last resort to be turned to when all else has failed and the situation is desperate. Surgical intervention may be important at any stage in the disease. Wrist fusion to obliterate pain and to restore a strong grip is advantageous whenever pain and instability compromise the function of that extremity. The knee with good painless flexion and extension cannot help but insure the patient's ability to get up and down from a chair. There are many goals that may be achieved through surgical intervention, and each of these should be considered and reviewed every time the physician sees the patient. Consider the benefits of prevention of disease progression, the stopping of bone resorption, the relief of pain, the restoration of motion, strength, and stability, and the preservation or restoration of the patient's confidence and determination to remain an independent member of society.

Adult

Malaria.

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Chloroquine