Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0042571 (vertigo)
 7,148 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Mefloquine has been licensed and registered in Japan for chemoprophylaxis against malaria since 2001. Guidelines for the prevention of malaria for Japanese overseas travelers were published by a group of malaria specialists under the auspices of the Japanese Society of Tropical Medicine and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, but not until March 2005. We implemented these guidelines in our clinic at the International Medical Center of Japan in Tokyo and, to better understand whether these guidelines are optimally useful, we conducted a study of Japanese travelers who visited our clinic seeking pertinent information and prophylaxis against malaria. The study group comprised 52 individuals who visited our clinic during the period October 2004 through June 2005 prior to travel abroad. On the basis of the above-mentioned guidelines, mefloquine was given to 27 of these individuals, 22 of whom were judged to need regular chemoprophylaxis. Mefloquine was not recommended to the other 25 individuals because their stays abroad would have been too long to avoid possible side effects or too short for symptoms to appear. In fact, some were traveling to malaria-free areas. Of the 27 individuals given mefloquine, 7 (26%) reported side effects, such as headache, vertigo, and nausea, 17 (63%) reported no side-effects, and the other 3 (11%) were unable to be followed. The diversity of destinations and accompanying malaria risks makes it very difficult for us to administer chemoprophylaxis to overseas travelers appropriately. The guidelines proved to be somewhat useful, but further experience in malaria chemoprophylaxis is needed for physicians to provide reliable pre-travel consultation.
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PMID:Chemoprophylaxis according to the guidelines on malaria prevention for Japanese overseas travelers. 1754 42

Mefloquine is a 4-methanolquinoline anti-malarial that in recent years has fallen out of favor for use as chemoprophylaxis against infection with chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria owing in part to growing concerns of side effects and potential neurotoxicity. Despite over 20 years of licensed use, the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying mefloquine's neuropsychiatric and physical side effects and the clinical significance of the drug's neurotoxicity have remained poorly understood. In this report, an adverse reaction to mefloquine chemoprophylaxis is described characterized by prodromal symptoms of anxiety with subsequent development of psychosis, short-term memory impairment, confusion and personality change accompanied by complaints of disequilibrium and vertigo, with objective findings of central vestibulopathy. It is posited that these effects represent an idiosyncratic neurotoxic syndrome of progressive limbic encephalopathy and multifocal brainstem injury caused by the drug. This case provides insights into the clinical significance of mefloquine neuronal gap junction blockade and neurotoxicity demonstrated in animal models, points to recommendations for the management of affected patients including diagnostic considerations and appropriate referrals, and highlights critical implications for the continued safe use of the medication.
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PMID:Limbic encephalopathy and central vestibulopathy caused by mefloquine: a case report. 2249 97

Mefloquine is a quinoline derivative antimalarial which demonstrates promise for the treatment of schistosomiasis. Traditionally employed in prophylaxis and treatment of chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria, recent changes to the approved European and U.S. product labeling for mefloquine now warn of a risk of permanent and irreversible neurological sequelae including vertigo, loss of balance and symptoms of polyneuropathy. The newly described permanent nature of certain of these neurological effects challenges the conventional belief that they are due merely to the long half-life of mefloquine and its continued presence in the body, and raises new considerations for the rational use of the drug against parasitic disease. In this opinion, it is proposed that many of the reported lasting adverse neurological effects of mefloquine are consistent with the chronic sequelae of a well characterized but idiosyncratic central nervous system (CNS) toxicity syndrome (or toxidrome) common to certain historical antimalarial and antiparasitic quinolines and associated with a risk of permanent neuronal degeneration within specific CNS regions including the brainstem. Issues in the development and licensing of mefloquine are then considered in the context of historical awareness of the idiosyncratic CNS toxicity of related quinoline drugs. It is anticipated that the information presented in this opinion will aid in the future clinical recognition of the mefloquine toxidrome and its chronic sequelae, and in informing improved regulatory evaluation of mefloquine and related quinoline drugs as they are explored for expanded antiparasitic use and for other indications.
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PMID:Idiosyncratic quinoline central nervous system toxicity: Historical insights into the chronic neurological sequelae of mefloquine. 2505 61