Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (Sep 1988)
Malaria in humait a county, state of Amazonas, Brazil. XIX - evaluation of clindamycin for the treatment of patients with Plasmodium falciparum infection
Abstract
A total of 207 patients with malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum were submitted to 5 different treatment schedules with clindamycin from 1981 to 1984: A - 89 patients were treated intravenously and orally, or intramuscularly and orally with 20 mg/kg/day divided into two daily applications for 5 to 7 days; B-40 patients were treated orally with 20 mg/kg/day divided into two daily doses for 5 to 7 days; C-27 patients were treated with 20 mg/kg/day intravenously or orally divided into two daily applications for 3 days; D-16 patients were treated orally and/or intravenously with a single daily dose of 20 to 40 mg/kg/day for 5 to 7 days; E-35 patients were treated orally with 5 mg/kg/day divided into two doses for 5 days. Patients were examined daily during treatment and reexamined on the 7th, 24th, 21st, 28th and 35th day both clinically and parasitologically (blood test). Eighty three (40.1%) had moderate or severe malaria, and 97 (46.8%) had shown resistance to chloroquine or to the combination ofsulfadoxin and pyrimethamine. The proportion of cured patients was higher than 95% among patients submitted to schedules A and B. Side effects were only occasional and of low intensity. Three deaths occurred (1.4%), two of them involving patients whose signs and symptoms were already very severe when treatment was started. Thus, clindamycin proved to be very useful in the treatment of patients with malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum and we recommend schedule A for moderate and severe cases and Bfor initial cases.De 1981 a 1984, 207 doentes com malária, causada pelo Plasmodium falciparum, foram tratados com 5 esquemas de clindamicina: A - 89 doente tratados com 20 mg/kg/dia, pelas vias endovenosa e oral, ou intramuscular e oral, em duas aplicações diárias, durante 5 a 7 dias; B - 40 doentes tratados com 20 mg/kg/dia, por via oral, em duas tomadas diárias, durante 5 a 7 dias; C - 27 doentes tratados com 20 mg/kg/dia, por via oral ou endovenosa, em duas tomadas diárias, durante 3 dias; D - 16 doentes tratados com 20 a 40 mg/kg/dia, por vias oral, e/ou, endovenosa, em uma única dose diária, durante 5 a 7 dias; E - 35 doentes tratados com 5 mg/kg/dia, por via oral, em duas doses diárias, durante 5 dias. Os doentes foram examinados, diariamente, durante o tratamento e reexaminados no 7.°, 14.°, 28.° e 35.° dias, tanto pelo exame clínico, quanto pelo parasitológico de sangue. Oitenta e três (40,1%) tinham malária moderada ou grave e 97 (46,8%) tinham apresentado resistência à cloroquina, ou à associação sulfadoxina e pirimetamina. Os resultados mostraram que a proporção de curados foi superior a 95% nos doentes tratados pelos esquemas A e B. Os efeitos colaterais observados foram ocasionais e de pequena intensidade. Houve três casos de óbito (1,4%), dois dos quais atendidos desde o inicio com quadro muito grave. A clindamicina: portanto, mostrou ser muito útil no tratamento de doentes com malária causada pelo Plasmodium falciparum, recomenda-se o esquema A para os casos moderados e o B para os benignos.
