The treatment of malaria in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficient patients in Sabah

One hundred and nine (9·8%) out of 1103 malaria patients examined in Sabah were deficient in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD). Sixty-nine of these G6PD-deficient patients were randomly allocated to one of three treatment regimes with (a) chloroquine, (b) chloroquine and primaquine or (c) sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (Fansidar). No haemolysis was observed in group (a); except for a single mild case, no haemolysis was seen in group (c). However, in the primaquine group (23 patients), haemolysis occurred in seven of the 16 patients who had complete G6PD deficiency. Of these seven, five required blood transfusion and the other two developed acute renal failure, one requiring peritoneal dialysis. In the Fansidar group (c), four of the 22 patients took more than 15 days to clear the parasitaemia. Chloroquine resistance to falciparum infection was common in the patients given this anti-malarial.
Study site: Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kola Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia