A report on Malaria, Plasmodium vivax, Sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine and Antimalarial medication

Sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine, sold under the brand name Fansidar, is a combination medication used to treat malaria.

Antimalarial medications or simply antimalarials are a type of antiparasitic chemical agent, often naturally derived, that can be used to treat or to prevent malaria, in the latter case, most often aiming at two susceptible target groups, young children and pregnant women.

This parasite is the most frequent and widely distributed cause of recurring malaria.

For the treatment of malaria it is typically used along with other antimalarial medication such as artesunate.

Most deaths are caused by P. falciparum, whereas P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae generally cause a milder form of malaria.

The combination is considered to be more effective in treating malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum than that caused by P. vivax, for which chloroquine is considered more effective, though in the absence of a species-specific diagnosis, the sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine combination may be indicated.

Quinine is an alkaloid that acts as a blood schizonticidal and weak gametocide against Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium malariae.

Occasional doses of the combination medication sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine are recommended in infants and after the first trimester of pregnancy in areas with high rates of malaria.

The recommended treatment for malaria is a combination of antimalarial medications that includes artemisinin.

Where an artemisinin-based combination therapy has been adopted as the first-line treatment for P. falciparum malaria, it may also be used for P. vivax malaria in combination with primaquine for radical cure.

An exception is artesunate plus sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (AS+SP), which is not effective against P. vivax in many places.

When administered alone sulfonamides are not efficacious in treating malaria but co-administration with the antifolate pyrimethamine, most commonly as fixed-dose sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (Fansidar), produces synergistic effects sufficient to cure sensitive strains of malaria.