THE POSSIBILITY OF CORRELATION BETWEEN EXTENT OF PARASITAEMIA ANDCHLOROQUINESERUMCONCENTRATION IN MALARIAL PATIENTS

Abstract

Eight male Iranian patients, aged 18-50 years and weighed 52-60 kg, suffering from acute malaria were administered 600 mg Chloroquine base (4 tablets of 150 mg). Blood samples were taken before and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 hours after dosing . Chloroquine serum concentrations were determined by means of HPLC method. The pharmacokinetic parameters of Cmax, Tmax and AUC(0-6h) were determined. The extent of parasitaemia before ingestion of the drug was evaluated using appropriate stained thick and thin peripheral blood film. These data were used to evaluate the possible correlation between pharmacokinetic parameters and extent of parasitaemia. The chloroquine serum level was found to be inversely correlated with the log of degree of parasitaemia (numbers of parasites in mm3 of blood) for patients infected With p. falciparum (r2 - 0.94), however,such a correlation was not observed with/7, vivax infected patients (r2 = 0.08).