A combination of sulfamonomethoxine and pyrimethamine versus other drugs for the treatment of malaria.

Sixty-eight cases of vivax and 30 cases of falciparum malaria patients were treated with a combination of sulfamonomethoxine-pyrimethamine (MP tablet with 500 mg of sulfamonomethoxine and 25 mg of pyrimethamine) and the results were compared with those with chloroquine, Fansidar and quinine. Vivax malaria: Fever and parasites were cleared by the 4th day of treatment in 94 and 92% of the patients, respectively. Chloroquine was the most effective drug and Fansidar and MP tablets shared the next position. Falciparum malaria: Fever and asexual parasites were cleared by the 4th day of treatment in 67 and 78% of the patients, respectively. MP tablets were effective in chloroquine-resistant falciparum malaria contracted in Kalimantan (Indonesia) and Oceanian countries (Vanuatu etc.). Fever and parasite clearance times were shorter with chloroquine or with Fansidar than with MP tablets. Defective preschizonts used to appear following administration of MP tablets both in vivax and falciparum malarias. They were the premonitory laboratory indications that the asexual parasites will be soon eradicated.