Treatment of chloroquine-resistant malaria during pregnancy

E. K. Main, D. M. Main and D. J. Krogstad

A pregnant 36-year-old Vietnamese refugee with chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum infection was treated with pyrimethamine and a sulfonamide. This treatment produced rapid clearance of the patient's parasitemia and was associated with a resumption of normal fetal and uterine growth. Because the other drugs effective against chloroquine-resistant P falciparum may produce uterine stimulation (quinine sulfate) or damage the fetal skeleton (tetracyclines), the pyrimethamine-sulfonamide combination (with folinic acid supplementation) may be the best available choice for the treatment and prophylaxis of chloroquine-resistant P falciparum infection in pregnancy, despite its theoretical risk of teratogenicity.