Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0027497 (nausea)
 23,468 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Plasmodium falciparum in Thailand is highly resistant to available antimalarial drugs. Artemether, a derivative of artemisinin, is a promising compound currently used to cope with this situation but the course of treatment has to be at least 5 d. An effective short treatment course of this drug is possible when used in combination with mefloquine. We now report a trial of different regimens of the combination artemether/mefloquine. Fifty-seven male Thai patients, admitted to the Bangkok Hospital for Tropical Diseases, were allocated at random to receive oral artemether 300 mg as an initial dose, followed by either the standard dose of mefloquine (750 mg) at 24 h or a higher dose of mefloquine (750 mg at 24 h, then 500 mg at 30 h). Patients were followed up in hospital for 42 d. Two patients, both in the high dose mefloquine group, were excluded as they failed to attend for follow-up. All patients had a rapid initial response to treatment with median parasite clearance times of 37 and 40 h, median fever clearance times of 33.5 and 30.5 h, and cure rates of 75 and 96% (P = 0.0248), for the standard and high doses of mefloquine respectively. No serious adverse effect was found; mild and transient dizziness, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea were noted in half of the patients in each group. The results suggest that a 30 h short course of artemether plus mefloquine at high dose should be used in areas with documented mefloquine resistance.
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PMID:A comparative clinical trial of two different regimens of artemether plus mefloquine in multidrug resistant falciparum malaria. 766 Apr 40

An open, randomized comparison of artemether-benflumetol (CGP 56 697; Novartis) with artesunate-mefloquine was conducted in 617 patients with acute uncomplicated multidrug-resistant falciparum malaria on the western border of Thailand. Both treatments rapidly and reliably cleared fever and parasitemia, and there was no significant difference in the initial therapeutic response parameters. Parasite genotyping was used to distinguish recrudescences from new infections. The 63-day cure rate for artesunate-mefloquine (94%) was significantly higher than the cure rate for artemether-benflumetol (81%) (P < 0.001). Both regimens were well tolerated. Nausea, vomiting, dizziness, sleep disorders, and other neurological side effects were between two and four times more common in the artesunate-mefloquine group than in the artemether-benflumetol group (P < 0.001). Artemether-benflumetol is effective and very well tolerated in the treatment of multidrug-resistant falciparum malaria. A higher dose than that used in the present study may improve efficacy.
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PMID:Randomized comparison of artemether-benflumetol and artesunate-mefloquine in treatment of multidrug-resistant falciparum malaria. 944 73

Artemether-lumefantrine (A-L), a new fixed-dose oral antimalarial drug, combines the fast onset of action of artemether (an artemisinin derivative) in terms of parasite clearance with the high cure rate of lumefantrine in the treatment of acute uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria. The extensive clinical trial database of A-L has allowed a comprehensive evaluation of its tolerability and safety in a total of 1869 patients (including 243 children aged 5-12 years and 368 children aged < 5 years). The most commonly reported and possibly related adverse effects following A-L therapy involved the gastro-intestinal (abdominal pain, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea) and central nervous (headache, dizziness) systems. Pruritus and rash were reported by < 2% of patients. More than 90% of the reported adverse events, many of which overlapped considerably with the clinical symptomatology or evolution of acute malaria, were rated mild to moderate in intensity. Compared to A-L, significantly higher incidences of vomiting and pruritus were observed with chloroquine, dizziness, nausea and vomiting with mefloquine, somnolence with pyrimethamine + sulfadoxine, and vomiting and dizziness with quinine. There were no serious or persistent neurological side-effects related to A-L administration. A-L did not lead to any clinically relevant alterations of the laboratory parameters. Serial electrocardiographic data were available for 713 patients. The frequency of QT interval prolongations was similar to or lower than that observed with chloroquine, mefloquine, or artesunate + mefloquine; these changes were considerably less frequent than with quinine or halofantrine. All patients with QT prolongation remained asymptomatic and no adverse clinical cardiac events were reported. Artemether-lumefantrine can thus be expected to show, both in children and in adults, a favourable safety profile for the treatment of acute, uncomplicated, P. falciparum malaria; it could as well be a reserve treatment option for travellers to endemic countries.
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PMID:An integrated assessment of the clinical safety of artemether-lumefantrine: a new oral fixed-dose combination antimalarial drug. 1112 48

(1) Treatment of uncomplicated malaria acquired in areas of chloroquine resistance is based on oral drugs chosen according to local resistance patterns. The atovaquone + proguanil combination is often the first choice for travelers because of its tolerability and convenience. (2) For the treatment of uncomplicated malaria, artemisinin derivatives, extracted from a Chinese plant, have a short-lived action and should not therefore be used as monotherapy. (3) Only one combination of this type, artemether plus lumefantrine (an antimalarial related to halofantrine), is marketed in France for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria. (4) In African trials, the efficacy of the artemether + lumefantrine combination, taken in 6 doses over 3 days, was fairly consistent and similar (or even superior) to that of the amodiaquine + sulfadoxine + pyrimethamine combination in three trials. It was more effective than the quinine + doxycycline combination in a region of Brazil where strains with diminished sensitivity to quinine circulate. (5) Artemether has the adverse effects of all artemisinin derivatives, especially gastrointestinal and neurological disorders. Lumefantrine, a drug related to halofantrine, prolongs the QT interval (albeit less than halofantrine), and this sometimes warrants ECG monitoring and blood potassium assays, especially in patients who have hepatic or renal failure or who are taking other drugs that affect the QT interval. (6) The absorption of lumefantrine is dependent on the presence of food in the stomach, which can be difficult as loss of appetite and nausea are frequent during malaria attacks. Intake of about 1.5 g of fat seems sufficient for satisfactory absorption. The artemether + lumefantrine combination is effective in case of resistance to other antimalarials. It is an alternative to the atovaquone + proguanil combination for travelers.
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PMID:Artemether + lumefantrine: new drug. An alternative to atovaquone + proguanil. 1851 6