One hundred and two children aged 0-10 years with
cerebral malaria (Blantyre
coma score of 2 or less) were randomly treated either with intramuscular
arteether (3.2 mg/kg on Day 0, followed by 1.6 mg/kg on Days 1 to 4) or intravenous (i.v.)
quinine dihydrochloride (20 mg of the
salt/kg, followed by 10 mg of the
salt/kg every 8 hr up to Day 6). Treatment with oral
quinine sulfate (10 mg/kg every 8 hr) was substituted for i.v.
quinine when the patient was able to take
oral medicine. All patients were followed up in the hospital for 7 days; thereafter, they were treated as outpatients on Days 14, 21, and 28. Mortality rate, the main efficacy parameter, was 11.8% lower in the
arteether treatment group than in the
quinine group (15.7% versus 27.4%); however, the difference was not significant (P = 0.25). Means for
fever clearance time,
coma resolution time, and parasite clearance time were similar in the 2 treatment groups (42.2 +/- 34.9 hr; 34.8 +/- 18.8 hr, and 46.3 +/- 28.5 hr, respectively for
arteether, versus 45.0 +/- 26.7 hr; 30.3 +/- 18.9 hr, and 40.7 +/- 18.9 hr, respectively, for
quinine). At 28 days, the cure rates were 73.2% and 64.9% for the
arteether and
quinine treatment groups, respectively.
Arteether is safe and therapeutically at least as effective as
quinine for the treatment of
cerebral malaria in children in Cameroon. Because of its ease of administration,
arteether appears to be suited for use in the rural zones where monitoring facilities do not exist.