Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0024530 (malaria)
 44,886 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Chloroquine, an agent used in treatment and prophylaxis of malaria, and also known for its antiinflammatory effects in dermatological, rheumatological, and connective tissue disorders, has been reported to cause toxicity, most commonly in the retina and the cardiovascular system. We describe a 60-year-old woman with longstanding rheumatoid arthritis receiving multidrug treatment, including prolonged administration of chloroquine. She developed complete heart block requiring a permanent pacemaker, congestive heart failure, and progressive myopathy. During hospital investigations for her myopathy, she died of acute pulmonary thromboembolism. Although hypertension and possibly amyloidosis were thought to be the cause of her cardiac disease, cardiac and skeletal muscle changes characteristic of chloroquine toxicity were observed. Chloroquine may be an important unsuspected contributing cause of cardiac dysfunction in patients with rheumatological disease. Endomyocardial biopsy should be considered early in the course of diagnosis and management.
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PMID:Chloroquine related cardiac toxicity. 963 91

Total serum calcium levels were estimated in 60 adult patients with malaria to know the prevalence of hypocalcemia in different types of malaria and its clinical implications. As hypocalcemia is known to cause Q-Tc interval prolongation, electrocardiograms were obtained in all patients with low calcium levels. Twenty seven (45%) patients with malaria had hypocalcemia. Majority (88.24%) of the complicated malaria patients had hypocalcemia as against uncomplicated malaria (27.91%). Mean calcium levels were significantly lower in complicated malaria (7.4 +/- 0.98 mg/dl) when compared to uncomplicated malaria (8.4 +/- 0.44 mg/dl). There was an inverse relation between calcium levels and parasite load (P < 0.05). Significant correlation was also seen between the degree of hypocalcemia and Q-Tc prolongation (P < 0.01). Return of calcium levels to normal coincided with clinical recovery and parasite clearance. Three patients who had low calcium levels and prolonged Q-Tc died of hypotension, bradycardia and heart block after quinine therapy. The exact cause of hypocalcemia could not be ascertained but renal failure, hypomagnesemia and parathyroid failure could have been contributary. In conclusion, hypocalcemia is not uncommon in complicated malaria. It can be of prognostic value as it may indicate complicated malaria or heavy parasitemia and its return to normal may indicate clinical recovery and parasite clearance.
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PMID:Clinical implications of hypocalcemia in malaria. 978 81

The effect of intramuscular arteether (150 mg daily for 3 days) on electrocardiogram was studied in 16 patients having falciparum malaria. This included three patients with cerebral malaria, three patients with jaundice (S. bilirubin > 3 mg per cent) and ten patients with uncomplicated malaria. Five patients had tachycardia prior to arteether treatment. The mean RR interval before starting the treatment was 0.59 sec which increased progressively--0.60, 0.68 and 0.69 sec on Day 1, 2 and 3 respectively after starting the treatment. There was no significant difference statistically in the mean corrected QT interval (p > 0.05), PR interval (p > 0.05), QRS duration (p > 0.05) and diastolic BP (p > 0.05) before starting and at the end of treatment on Day 3. One patient had developed first degree heart block (PR 0.24), while another patient had prolonged QTc (0.48 sec) on Day 3. Subsequent ECG of both these patients was normal on Day 5. The profile of ECG changes was same in the patients of uncomplicated and complicated malaria. Absence of any significant effect on BP and ECG changes precludes the significant effect of arteether on the cardiovascular system when compared to quinine which may cause hypotension, arrhythmia and QTc prolongation.
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PMID:Effect of arteether on electrocardiogram in the patients of falciparum malaria--a preliminary study. 1139 63