We read with interest the article by Bélard et al1 on intravenous artesunate (ivA) use for imported severe malaria in children. IvA was a highly efficacious treatment in this cohort of children, treated outside malaria-endemic region.
Parenteral artesunate is the treatment of choice for severe malaria. It is safe, efficacious and well tolerated anti-malarial. However, delayed haemolysis has been reported in travellers, non-immune individuals and in African children.
Intravenous artesunate and its follow on full course dihydroartemisinin–piperaquine are the standard treatment for severe malaria in Indonesia. The current policy suggests that intravenous and oral quinine could be used when standard therapy is not available. Its pragmatic use of both treatment combinations in a field hospital is evaluated.
Parenteral artesunate for the treatment of severe malaria in non-immune travelers is associated with late-onset hemolysis. In children in sub-Saharan Africa, the hematologic effects of malaria and artesunate are less well documented. Here we report a prospective case series of 91 children with severe malaria treated with parenteral artesunate, managed at a resource-poor hospital in Africa, with longitudinal data on hemoglobin (Hb), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), haptoglobin, and erythrocyte morphology.
To initiate investigation of IV MB for severe malaria, the efficacy of IV MB was compared to IV AS and to their combination in rat and non-human primate malaria models.
