Short report: pefloxacin does not potentiate quinine efficacy against Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

Twenty-four patients presenting with severe Plasmodium falciparum infection at the Kamenge Hospital in Burundi were enrolled in a double-blind study comparing the efficacy of a seven-day regimen of intravenous quinine alone or in combination with pefloxacin. The aim of this study was to assess whether pefloxacin modified chloroquine efficacy or its uptake by infected erythrocytes as shown with other antimalarials. Pefloxacin did not modify the antimalarial activity of quinine, in terms of speed of parasite or fever clearance. Moreover, pefloxacin does not appear to interact with quinine uptake by erythrocytes in humans.